Ganlu at work
Cover news reporter Zhang Jie
In the Chinese film industry, Ganlu is a very unique existence. Over the past twenty years, Ganlu has continued to pay close attention to the changes in the film industry's ecology, and has shot a number of film documentaries that have great influence on the industry. Her work can be said to be the filming of "movies of movies" - for a movie Filming a documentary about the birth of For example, Ganlu filmed the documentary about the birth of Zhang Yimou's movie " Hero " - "The Origin". In addition, she was also invited by film directors such as John Woo, Tsui Hark, and Liu Weiqiang to collaborate in the filming of related film documentaries, and was recognized by the industry as "Chinese Film Documentary" "The first person".
In 2023, Ganlu and his team collaborated with the National Ballet of China to shoot the first movie "Let Her Finish His Dance" (tentative title) starring all China's top ballet dancers. The film is currently in post-production. Previously, she also spent four years filming a documentary series on ballet, with the total title of "We Are Dancing". This series of four films is specially authorized by the National Ballet of China. It is the first documentary series in Asia to comprehensively reflect the living conditions of Chinese ballet dancers. Because of the filming of "We Are Dancing", she has known many ballet dancers for many years. They may be 10 years old, 20 years old, 30 years old, 50 years old... Ganlu discovered that this group has its own life story and lives as its true self. In addition to using the camera, she also used words to express her observations and thoughts, so she published her story with them into a book - "Imperfect Dancer", which was recently published by China Workers Publishing House.
"The Imperfect Dancer"
"The Imperfect Dancer" has a total of 288,000 words. Among them are oral essays by 14 ballet dancers, such as "Ballet doesn't love me, but I love ballet" by dancer Liu Yang, "I'm Ordinary, That's Why I'm Liked" by Fang Lingdi, "Inseparable in Life" by Huang Zhiqin Mirror" and so on. In addition, there are 13 original essays and 1 postscript written by Ganlu himself about the art of ballet. Including "The Voice of Pointe", "A Girl", "Transposition", "Image and Ballet", "Dancer in the Side Curtain", "Ballet in a City" and so on.
Some of these dancers have been famous for a long time, and some are unknown, but what they have in common is that they all have a love for the art of ballet. They both started to come into contact with and practice ballet when they were teenagers, and this was the beginning of their lifelong love affair with ballet. Every dancer has his or her own ballet story. Some people have been engaged in ballet careers, while others quit due to injuries, but they do not regret their encounter with ballet, but are full of gratitude in their hearts. This kind of love often goes beyond fame and fortune and is pure love. Through practicing ballet, dancers gain a profound understanding of art, aesthetics, and life.
For example, a dancer in the book said, "Maybe people think that learning ballet pays more than what you get, but without ballet, I wouldn't be who I am now. Maybe I would live an ordinary life that most people would live. Life may still be very realistic. It is ballet that has shaped me today. I enjoy life whether I was a dancer before or a teacher now." In this dancer's heart, "The beauty of ballet is light and pure. , clean, and comfortable. I believe that all comfortable things will last longer and be closer to eternity, and those things that are too impetuous will just pass by... This is the feeling of beauty that ballet brings to me, and it will follow me throughout my life."
While making documentaries and movies about ballet dancers, Ganlu has had long-term and in-depth exchanges with ballet dancers, and has a lot of insights and thoughts. “Ballet is born with a trace of sadness, a touch of it, just slightly revealed between the dancers’ slightly frowning eyebrows. , I often see a kind of regret and struggle. All the imperfections in reality become worthless in front of ballet, because at that moment, the dancer has forgotten himself. Art may be like this: when you have no selfishness , only when you dedicate yourself to it can you truly feel it." This book explores the relationship between art and life in a certain sense.
Ganlu
After watching the documentary filmed by Ganlu on ballet dancers, many people thought that she was keen on photographing dancers because she danced as a child. In fact, she did not. "I never thought that I would have such a deep connection with ballet and ballet dancers. At that time, I was not so sure that documentaries had many similarities with ballet. Later, as I slowly observed and discovered, I saw the similarities between the two. Subtle connections, that's why I'm interested. I often look at them dancing on the stage, as if they don't belong to this world. They reach the other side in their complete dedication to dance. The beauty of that moment, everyone on the stage is there We try our best to retain it, and the same goes for shooting images. We record time, and every recorder deeply realizes that a moment is eternity. We want to use images to retain this fleeting moment, so our definition of beauty may be different from many people. This Beauty contains too many things, but when you are greedy for beauty, you will never be able to reach it. Moderate beauty may be more important. This kind of external pursuit can only be achieved by combining the heart and the body of a dancer. Spirit, it will reach the depths of the soul."
made a documentary, why do we need to make such a book? Ganlu said, "In the increasingly fast-paced life, let each other stop for a moment and review this period. A growth experience that seems to have nothing to do with you, but you can relate to it. Just watching, just feeling, it can leave something behind, just like in the shadow of the moonlight scattered all over, we can still clearly see our own shadow. We are in Dancing is just a different way of dancing. Books, paintings, music, cameras...that's all. We are all dancing."
In the book, Ganlu wrote, "I don't know what professional ballet dancers are like in the minds of other people. , in my heart, they are a group of craftsmen. Day after day, they breathe the air full of ballet terminology, and in their ivory tower-like space, they are constantly searching for a word that we call "perfect". For this Words, we don't have the answer. In the dead of night, under the gaze of the moon, in our different lives, we may have the same joys and sorrows. We all want to have the perfect day in our imagination, but gradually we understand, 'No Perfection is the closest relationship between you and the world."
(Photo provided by Manlu himself)
