In 2017, PATHS OF THE SOUL, a literary film themed on Tibet, became a hit with strong word of mouth and box office. Moreover, it sets a new path for Chinese literary films with an accumulative box office of RMB100 million. Chinese Film Market interviewed Zhang Yang, director of PATHS OF THE SOUL, during Berlin Film Festival to talk about the publicity and distribution of literary films, the balance between arts and commerce, and the status quo of young directors.
CFM: It has been over 20 years since you directed your first film in 1997. There have been tremendous changes in the Chinese film market during these 20 years. What do you feel most about?
Zhang Yang: It is the transfer from the planned economy to the market economy. For example, in the past, under the system of film studios, there was basically no opportunity for young directors, but now opportunities are everywhere. This is a huge change. Another significant thing is the growth of the entire film market, which you can even say is crazy. Nobody can tell what will happen in the next year or year after.
CFM: Do you think it is a good thing to be “crazy” like this?
Zhang Yang: Yes, I think so. It is like China’s economy in the past 30 years – the first priority is development, and then we will think about how to fill other gaps. This seems to be an inevitable process, which applies to the film industry.
CFM: Last year, your PATHS OF THE SOUL received a great deal of attention as a classic case for the publicity and distribution of literary films. What do you think contribute to the success of this film in terms of publicity, distribution and market promotion?
Zhang Yang: Actually I think every company is similar when it comes to the content of market promotion, publicity and distribution, at least the process is similar. The company producing PATHS OF THE SOUL is actually not a professional publicity and distribution company; it is a company focusing on content. Traditional publicity and distribution companies approached by this production company all felt that it was a difficult job to promote and distribute literary films based on conventional concepts, and estimated a box office of RMB 6-8 million. The company believed it should not be the case and decided to take the job into its own hands. Putting your heart into something is definitely different from treating it as a job. Communicating with the director, interpreting the film or being able to translate it to something simple so that people can understand it – they can do it more accurately, or does not exaggerate it. This people-based approach gradually helped to find relevant audience precisely, the first group of audience of the film. I think it is actually quite simple with this kind of films – if you can find the right audience, you will save time and effort. There are limited funds, so it is not possible to carry out large publicity campaigns. And if you cannot find the right audience, all the publicity will be wasted; but if you can, much effort is saved, and possibly more popularity will follow. This is because that all films ultimately depend on the word of mouth, and when you locate the first group of right audience, you have secured the most import part, the word of mouth.
CFM: You have made both literary films and commercial films. How should directors balance between arts and the market in the creation process?
Zhang Yang: I feel it is very difficult to strike the balance. Although I am considered to be doing not a bad job integrating commerce and arts, as an individual director, I am quite often faced with a dilemma. Actually, when a director is considering a subject and how to express the subject, he/she would reference many successful films that have been made in the past or the “rules” of these films, which require satisfying the needs of the public to the largest extent, or making things simple and easy to understand and accept. Arts, on the other hand, is the opposite. Arts is something more into the inner world of the creator; it is harder to understand and more boring, and all the methodology about arts goes against the normal rules. This is the dilemma I am talking about. Directors have to be very clear as to which direction to go. Previously, I was actually a bit hesitant that I also considered to be a bit more “commercial”, but I changed my mind later, hoping to go further in arts.
CFM: You and your works show up in international film festivals a lot. What changes about Chinese movies have you seen in international film festivals this year?
Zhang Yang: This is not a golden era for Chinese movies. In the 1980’s, Chinese movies were like a new continent to Europeans. Indeed, at that time, Chinese movies had very clear aesthetic pursuit, and thus had more opportunities to be seen in various film festivals. However, it is getting more and more difficult now. The trend is gone, nothing new is being generated, and we don’t have a lot in the film language to contribute anymore. Nowadays, the Chinese film market is booming, and they feel Chinese films are getting more and more commercial, while literary films are rare. Nonetheless, this gives young directors more opportunities, as young directors do not have such restriction and can passionately explore films from the perspective of arts.
CFM：You have been supporting young directors. What do you think is missing now among young directors?
Zhang Yang: In my opinion, young doctors are more or less the same regardless the era they are in. The concept is the same. The only difference is we are currently in an era with too much temptation. Money is abundant, or there are many successful commercial stories, which are really tempting for young directors. So it all boils down to whether one can stick to his/her pursuit. It is a tough decision to make for a young doctor wanting to pursue arts. This is something different from our time, when everybody was in a similar situation where you could not make much money making any films anyway. But now, it is possible for a young director to make RMB1 billion or RMB2 billion from his/her first film. So you see, the difference is huge.
CFM：Can you tell us what plan you have next step?
Zhang Yang: I made three films in Dali last year. They are completed now and are at the post-production stage. One documentary and two feature films. They are low cost films using non-professional actors and having a documentary nature. Two of the companies I am working with were producers of PATHS OF THE SOUL, and a new company has also joined us.