Wang Rui, a famous Chinese director, professor of Beijing Film Academy, director of Director Department, member of China Film Directors’ Guild, is also one of the “Generation VI” directors in China. He has participated in the creation of a lot of Chinese film and television works and won important awards. The film After Divorce and Whisper in Winter are his representative works.
CFM: Chaogtu with Sarula is a film about ethnic minorities. Why do you want to place the story structure in Inner Mongolia? Can you tell me the background and creative process?
Wang Rui: In my creative experience, it is probable that I went to the grassland for the first time in the early 1990s. Immediately I arrived there, I fell love with it. When I lived there, I felt very comfortable. In 1997, I shot a film there. Maybe everyone has something special to love. Some love sea. Others, like me, love the grassland. I love the scenery there. Moreover, when I stay there, I feel very comfortable. In the 1980s, I had to learn how to ride a horse in order to shoot a film. At that time, there was no equestrian team in China. From then on, I am fond of horses a lot. Since I love both the grassland and horses, I am fond of this place very much.
Then, during my creative process, when I made films in the grassland, I got acquainted with a large number of Mongolian actors. I had a special love for them. We chatted together. To my great surprise, I am particularly interested in Mongolian people, and their music. It is because of this that I have such an interest. That is why I become happy as I go to the prairie to make films.
This film is the fifth one directed by me. I would admit that I have been very passive in making my first four films. Some people found me to be a director. I would try my best to change the script into an acceptable film.
This film shall be the first one I really want to shoot in my film-making career. At that time, Chen Ping, the scriptwriter of the film, showed me a novel. He told me that the novel is about the grassland. After reading it, I felt very nice as well. At that time, we found the original novel’s author. The setting of the original works is in the Western Inner Mongolia. Then we went there, chatting with local people. I had an instinctive reaction that the story mainly tells that a man desires to leave home and go to another place. After I saw the place, I wanted to use the eastern part of Inner Mongolia as the setting, meaning that the protagonist’s hometown is a beautiful place. In that case, I feel if he still wants to go to another place, readers will feel that there is a spiritual need in him. If the environment looks bad (like a gobi desert), readers will think that the protagonist’s departure is to escape from the harsh environment or poverty. In this case, the imagination of readers will be limited. Therefore, I changed the protagonist’s hometown from the western part of Inner Mongolia to the eastern part. I have the experience of making films in Eastern Inner Mongolia, the scenery of which is very beautiful.
CFM: One of the most important topics in this film is to explore the anxiety of modern people. The man wants to go out, because he has an anxiety in his heart. Anxiety is a very common psychological condition of modern people. Why do you choose such a topic to explore in the context of ethnic minorities?
Wang Rui: The third film I made is After Divorce. There is a scene in the film that Li Baotian stands at an intersection to direct traffic in the mid-night, which is located at Dongsi in Beijing. I did not recognize it when I shot the film. Many years later, when I gave lectures to my students, I recognized the place. I suddenly found that the former state of the intersection of Dongsi was retained in my film. However, if you visit Dongsi now, you will find a totally different place. You cannot know what the intersection looks like in 1995 and 1996 until you saw the films of that period. From then on, I felt that film-making was actually a part of recording.
It took me more than ten years to produce Chaogtu with Sarula. Put it another way, I had an idea to make the film more than ten years ago. When the investment was in place, Chinese film production companies began to stress the importance of box office revenues. Accordingly, the project was postponed for more than ten years until the capital to invest in this project was secured.
The social environment has undergone tremendous changes for these years. When to shoot the film, we came to the grassland once again to chat with local people and experience their life. I think that in some sense this film may record how the modern herders of the eastern part of Inner Mongolia lead a life. Judging from the effect of the filming, audiences who are familiar with the grassland think well of the film, which is of no exaggeration or distortion. Basically, the living state of herders is kept in the film, which may be related to my personal feelings about this nationality.
CFM: What difficulties have you encountered during the filming process? How did you overcome them?
Wang Rui: The process is very tough. At the beginning, we decided to have this film produced at a low cost, instead of a blockbuster. We have limited money to spend, but the filming cycle of the film is quite long, because it involves winter and summer, namely seasonal changes. Our funds are not enough to support us to survive such a long cycle, so except the cast, all the positions of the crew are not stable but changeable. First, it is impossible for anyone to spend a year with the crew for a year, since they are poorly paid.
Second, the filming environment of the film is actually quite bad. For instance, in order to shoot the winter scenes in Hailar (such as gale and heavy snow), where the temperature is basically minus thirty or forty degrees at night, we had to endure the bad weather for one night. It is uneasy to shoot summer scenes there. In summer, the scenery is gorgeous. But you will feel uncomfortable if you are exposed directly under the sun for a while. There are no trees. You cannot find shades. Then, it is windy on the grassland. Sometimes, it is gale. Therefore, even if you just stand there and do nothing else, you will feel very tired after a while. We need to shoot scenes in the entire day in such an environment, indicating a high requirement for physical strength.
Overcoming these difficulties depends on love. While talking with many students desiring to learn arts, including those studying at Beijing Film Academy about the film career, I told them that without love it will be difficult to stick to it. To be honest, when you make a film, you will have to sacrifice a lot in terms of physical strength, energy and emotional devotion. If you are engaged in other industries, you may earn a lot of money. The reason for your devotion to the film industry is love.
CFM: Nowadays, I have a feeling that the number of ethnic minorities films is increasingly decreasing. As for such type of films, how can they be innovated?
Wang Rui: If you look at the issue of such type of films in the contemporary era, you will find that it is not the same as before. Thanks to well-developed information, ethnic minorities are no longer in an isolated state. When ethnic minorities films were made in the past, one of the reasons was to satisfy the curiosity of audiences. Such films would take on a fresh experience for audiences, since there were significant differences between them and people of ethnic minorities in terms of living state and environment and ideas.
I think that the living state for everyone, including people living in Tibet, should be the same. There is a scene in the film that people began to connect to WiFi. Likewise, WiFi also emerged in Tibet at that time. In fact, the areas of ethnic minorities are not so inaccessible as you imagine. They know anything you know.
I would rather say that the discussion of the theme of ethnic minorities in the contemporary era is actually an issue of humankind. Take my film as an example. It seems that it is very documentary. The language in it is pure Mongolian. You think it is a discussion about an ethnic minority. As a matter of fact, I am trying to explore a common issue for the humankind.
In fact, each of us will encounter the entanglement discussed in my film, but such phenomenon does not merely belong to Mongolians or Tibetans. I think that people of Han nationality and even people from America will encounter the entanglement, too. Relative to the life of a human being, it is always a confusing issue to distinguish how a person wants to live from how other people want him or her to live in this world.
CFM: As a senior director, you have also engaged in teaching work. Can you talk about the changes in the creation environment of Chinese films based on your own experience?
Wang Rui: When we were at school, Chinese films happened to have experienced a new era. At that time, we saw the rise of the “Generation V”. I remember that when we saw the Yellow Earth, everyone felt very shocked. When we were at school, and when we graduated as well, it was a time when Chinese films were mostly pure literary films. There was a very obvious phenomenon that the films made by film studios at that time that made a lot of money did not have high status and reputation in the circle. By contrast, the award-winning films seemed to have a high status in the entire film circle and even in literature and art circle. Therefore, many students of Beijing Film Academy (including graduates of my generation) have been deeply affected. In this case, the so-called “underground films” have emerged. No matter whether a film is sold well or not, the first priority is to finish the film and get a prize. This state lasts for many years.
The first change in the history of the film industry of new China was from the literary film to the commercial film, which occurred in the 1980s. At that time, a large number of martial arts films were filmed in the industry. They are pure commercial films. However, at that time, a very deadly concept has not been reversed. That is, all film studios thought highly of literary films. In comparison with commercial films, they guaranteed more investment, staff and support for literary films. The costs for commercial films were very low, and they were produced by mediocre personnel. If you are interested in reviewing the history of the film industry, you will find that many low-cost martial arts films were made in the 1980s and 1990s. These shoddy films were full of the film industry. There were some odd films. They jointly led to the downturn of Chinese films, which is hard for our generation to believe. Since our childhood, we have been to cinemas on Saturdays or Sundays, whether at home or at school. We did not believe that there would be no audiences in the cinemas. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, this phenomenon really emerged, and the audiences stopped going to cinema to see films. At that time, it happened that we graduated from college and experienced the first downturn of Chinese films.
I probably stopped for 18 years since the fourth film directed by me, which is a tribute film. What made me unwilling to shoot another film? I tried every means at that time. It took me a year to complete the shooting, experience the local life and add stunts only to find that no audiences were willing to see it in cinemas. I was particularly sad at the time. I hope that the film made by me can be seen by someone. My film is for audiences to see. Based on this situation, I switched to film TV series at the time. I think there are people watching TV dramas.
Chinese films had to wait opportunity to bottom up. When large quantities of private funds have tapped the industry, Chinese films began to bottom up. However, commercial films dominated the industry this time. It was normal. It was not a state investment, but an investment from enterprises or individuals. The first thing to measure is whether it can make money. Frequent losses will cause the closure of film studios. That is what I am thinking about. In my opinion, it is still difficult to form a more objective evaluation now. What exactly does it bring to Chinese films? What are the advantages and disadvantages? I think it may take some years to reach a conclusion.
However, in this process, I find that there is a big problem. It is a pity that there is a break in the development of the Chinese film industry. According to records, the first Chinese film was made in 1905. In fact, after about ten years when the film was invented, Chinese began to be engaged in making films, and this tradition has been continuing. Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio had a whole set of traditions. Because of the trough in the 1980s and 1990s, the tradition of making movies in China was interrupted, and people were retired. In the past, Beijing Film Studio and Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio established the Literature Departments, where senior employees taught young ones until the latter became experienced. Unfortunately, such inheritance has been interrupted. I think that a person with film experience does not completely mean how much money you earn, which is not so important. Instead, it means how long you have worked in this industry, which really matters. Beijing Film Academy began to study films in 1956. Up to now, we have been studying films for more than 60 years, with no interruptions. It is rare to see BFA become the most acquainted with the film industry. After all, industry has accumulated more experience than academies in the remaining world.
CFM: As an educator, you have contacted a lot of fresh power. What are your comments on the creation of young directors in China?
Wang Rui: In my opinion, there are more opportunities for young directors than before. The Chinese film industry has a tradition, but it has a drawback: overstating seniority. At that time, it was impossible for a freshly graduated student to make a film. This situation remained until the emergence of the fifth generation. “Generation V” directors began shooting films after graduation. These things have brought a lot of opportunities for young people. However, at the same time, most of the state-run or relatively large film studios have disappeared. Currently, young directors have been faced with two issues. One is that there are many opportunities. Then other is when an opportunity arise how they can find and identify it. This is a very difficult thing. It proved that many young directors would be good producers because they can find funds. Therefore, I doubt whether they have more talents in directing films. Currently, we have been in a special period, when sophisticated talents with strong comprehensive abilities are needed eagerly.
I find that there are many students with directors as their majors. Some directors are talented, but they may be not experts in communicating with other people. The current situation would ruin them. For example, there was a great director in our class called Lu Xuechang. He was kind of socially shy. At the time of the change in the industry, he needed to communicate with others and promote himself. Since his ability in this area was poor, he found no opportunities to shoot films. Later, he returned to the college to become a teacher. Unfortunately, he died of illness.
Now almost everyone is talking about the industrialization of the film, and the most typical feature of industrialization is clear division of labor. Everyone shall do what they are best at.
CFM: What expectations or hopes do you have for the upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival?
Wang Rui: Considering my age, I have been in the film circle for long. Of my generation directors, I started shooting films at an early time. I graduated in 1989 and started filming in 1991. After Chaogtu with Sarula was short-listed at the Tokyo International Film Festival, I felt comfortable in two aspects. After the completion of the film-making, we asked two friends to help us with good ideas. When it comes to how to release the film, both of them said that it was a literary film instead of a commercial one. They were waiting for my suggestions. Now I am thinking that I enjoy finishing the first part of task: I shoot a film that I want to shoot. I have to think about the second half of task: thinking about how to release it. I think that the way of making literary films cannot be blocked. If investors suffer losses one after another from investing in these films, who is willing to invest? I wish we could have this way unblocked. In fact, films in China or around the world are faced with the same issue: they should be diversified for the booming development. In a large country like China, the film industry will usher in a booming development if all the films are commercial ones. Instead, there should be an appropriate position for literary films in terms of proportion. In my opinion, if we can attempt to find a feasible development way for the making of literary films, it will attract investors with artistic feelings to support the creation of literary films, as long as we try our best not to lose money, not to mention how much we are going to make.