This year's shortlisted "Balloon" started with two children who mistakenly used their parents' condoms as balloons, and described the conflicts between tradition and modernity faced by a Tibetan family under the family planning policy. The famous French film critic and film historian Jean-Michel Fudong commented that the film is "the most beautiful film at the Venice Film Festival".
Many people who have been in contact with Wanma Caidan will describe him as a gentle scholar and a generous teacher. He speaks very quietly, he must be close to hear, and there is always a shy smile on his face. On Lido Island in Venice, the entertainment management studio met again with Wanma Caidan and chatted with him about the latest "Balloon".
The embarrassment caused by a condom
About five or six years ago, Wanma Caidan was walking on the streets of Beijing. He looked up and saw a red balloon fluttering in the sky. He looked at it, and thought this image was very interesting, and a rudimentary story emerged in his mind.
He quickly wrote the script, but because there were not enough conditions to shoot, he could only shelve it. Later, he first rewritten the script into a novel and published it.
Wanma Caidan is a director who is very good at expanding short stories into long-form movies, and he can switch between text and images freely. For example, "Battered a Sheep" is adapted from Tsering Lobu's short story, and "Taluo" is derived from an article in his own collection of short stories. He will boldly abandon the overly literary description of the original work, and sculpt images with sophisticated audio-visual language, and add flesh and blood to every character in the story.
"Balloon" tells the story of a large Tibetan family in the family planning era: two naughty young sons wanted to play with balloons and mistakenly blew their parents' condoms into balloons and took them out to play. They were denounced by the village adults as a shame. Because of the lack of contraceptive supplies, their mother accidentally got pregnant again, just in time for his grandfather’s death. The lama said that the child was the reincarnation of his grandfather, and his father insisted on giving birth. But this violated the newly promulgated family planning regulations...
There are many clues: the father wants to find a majestic ram to breed, the two children want balloons as toys, the mother is wobbly between religious constraints and the awakening of female consciousness, the mother's sister finds that the world is not there after being a monk... depressed and sprouting Feelings are permeated throughout the story. None of the characters in the film are symbolic, and they all have their own careful thoughts.
"Balloon" is a film that Wanma Caidan has always wanted to make that takes women as the protagonist and reflects the lives of women in Tibetan areas. It is a dream come true for many years. In the film, the husband played by Jinba is an image of a Tibetan man with traditional thinking and pious beliefs. He treats his wife with a machismo. After the wife was awakened by the monk’s sister with the words "You are not a fertility machine", she finally decided to be Your own destiny is in control.
From balloons to condoms, from conception to life cycle, a series of images are cleverly woven together, showing all the panic and embarrassment when the ignorance is first broken.
This is a story that originated in the times. If it were put to this day, the situation would have been very different. Wanma Caidan said with a smile that the policy has been liberalized today, but fertility may usher in new problems, such as economic conditions. "Balloon" is ultimately a story from the mid-1990s.
Wanma Caidan makes both feature films and documentaries. In his early years, his hometown trilogy-"Quietly Mani Stone", "Looking for Chi Mei Gengden", and "Old Dog" all tended to documentary techniques, but by last year's "Knocked a Sheep", you can already see the west. The technique of the genre film and the depiction of surreal dreams are added.
"Balloon" is perhaps the most easy-to-understand, most plot, and fastest-paced one of Wanma Caidan's works in recent years. It will be more friendly to ordinary audiences and commercial theaters. But at the same time, "Balloon" also continues the many techniques and elements of "Bumped and killed a sheep"-chaos in dreams, lost and lonely people, tearing apart old and new concepts, modern symbols in traditional scenes, and allusions to the fate of the characters Animals, light and shadow swaying tavern...
Although all of Wanma Caidan's creations are rooted in Tibet, he himself is an academic director with profound domestic and foreign literature and film accomplishments.
Watching his movies, ordinary audiences see the unique Tibetan culture and ups and downsWith the ups and downs of the storyline, deep movie fans may be more attracted by his poetic and imaginative images. For example, in "Balloon", Wanma Caidan uses the shadows of clouds reflected on the water, the voice of children, and the beautiful and mysterious sunset to metaphor the passing of the old man, which is dreamlike and unforgettable.
"Balloon" starring Suolang Wangmu, Jinba, and Yang Xiucuo, who are all queen actors of Wanma Caidan, and "Talow" actor and Tibetan star Sidneyima also appeared in the new film. The photographer Lu Songye of "Talow" and "August", editing director Liao Qingsong, Jin Di, sound director Du Duzhi, and the top lineup of Abbas Yuzhang Peiman Yazdani perfectly realized the director's artistic conception.
hopes that the "new wave of Tibet" will come out.
Wanma Caidan once said that the current culture of the entire human world is constantly converging, and convergence means some kind of amnesia.
himself also lives in the gap between different cultures, always maintaining the anxiety of identity. Therefore, even though he lives in Beijing and walks in the modern streets of Beijing and sees a balloon, what grows in his mind is still a story that happened in the past in Tibetan areas. He has the deepest experience of Tibetan traditional culture and religious beliefs, and he can jump out and reflect with a more secular perspective.
From writing to filming, Wanma Caidan is regarded as one of the leaders of Tibetan art creation. The writer Tashi Dawa commented on him as "the peak of Tibetan novels and films." Around him, a group of new Tibetan creative forces are growing up.
For example, Songtaga, who has done art or photography for Wanma Caidan many times, went to the film school under the encouragement of Wanma Caidan, and took the lead when shooting and excellent. Songtaga was the director of "River" and "Alajan". "Lore" and the unreleased new film "Ram and Gabe" were shortlisted in the International Category A Film Festival; the young director Lavarga was the executive director of "Talow", and his "Wanza's Rain Boots" was shortlisted at the Berlin Film Festival , Wanma Caidan served as the producer. The two well-known Tibetan directors,
, are apprentices trained by Wanma Caidan in the "old and new" way. More new Tibetan directors, actors and various behind-the-scenes personnel are gradually being known to the public. Before Wanma Caidan, film creation in Tibetan areas showed a small number, scattered manpower, and unstable output. Wanma Caidan is working hard to change this situation, which is called a new wave of Tibet. ".
talked about the hard work spent on supporting younger generations. Wanma Caidan showed a kind smile on his face: “It’s kind of like an obligation... the new director’s debut has a lot of things to worry about. The whole production process has to be watched and spent. The time is actually the same as making a film by myself. But it still needs someone to control it. I also got help from others when I made the first film myself. It is difficult for a person in the film industry to come out. So I think it is an obligation, not a liking. It must be done. I hope that everyone can come out together to form a climate.”
True, minority films are still very niche at present, with Wang Jiawei as the producer and vociferously screaming "Knocked a Sheep" on the day of its release. The rate was only 0.2%, which was crushed by the same period of "Avengers 4". Wanma Caidan was shortlisted for the third time in Venice, and few people have seen his works. "Kang Rinpoche" is a dark horse at the box office, but it is not really a movie with a Tibetan perspective.
"Currently, there will be no big problem in maintaining the creation," Wanma Caidan said when he brought up the topic of "Break and Kill a Sheep". He is still optimistic about the future: "Because the cost of my films is not too high, and the investors are not trying to make any profit. Now there is the Yilian, and some distribution companies are paying attention. The recognition of Tibetan films is increasing. Slowly improve, and the quality of creation will continue to improve."
