cover news reporter Su Yu
"Today I brought the movie " Grass and Trees World ". I'm going home. It's also a new departure. I would like to thank the Beijing Film Festival for providing a stage for young directors to realize their dreams." At the 14th Beijing Film Festival At the opening ceremony of the International Film Festival, director Gu Xiaogang said emotionally with tears in his eyes.
The change of identity, the release of new works... Gu Xiaogang's "trip home" seems particularly busy. The official of the Beijing Film Festival Organizing Committee announced that Gu Xiaogang's second film "The World of Grass and Trees" will be the opening film, and his identity has changed from a director participating in the venture capital selection to a judge of the "Focus on the Future" unit.
Stills from "The World of Grass and Trees". Picture provided by the film crew
This interview took a long time. His work is being released, and he has been traveling all over the country to perform road shows. Recently, during the Beijing Film Festival, a cover news reporter met Gu Xiaogang. According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, as of April 27, the film’s real-time box office has reached 118 million. Became the monthly box office champion of Chinese domestic films in April this year.
Last year, Gu Xiaogang won the special honor of the "Kurosawa Akira Award" at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival for this film. He also became the third Chinese-language director to win this international award after Hou Hsiao-hsien and Chen Kaige. Gu Xiaogang also became the youngest winner in the history of the Tokyo International Film Festival's "Kurosawa Award".
Gu Xiaogang. Picture provided by the interviewee
"I feel a huge encouragement, I will maintain more awe for movies, and I will better enjoy the journey of discovering movies in the future." Gu Xiaogang told reporters that the most important thing is his original intention and sincerity. He wanted to integrate traditional Chinese landscape painting with film language to extend Chinese aesthetics infinitely in time and space.
Regarding the power and changes that the Beijing Film Festival has brought to him, Gu Xiaogang said that he did not expect that life is like a movie. He works hard according to certain upward forces, and he wants to realize and confirm bit by bit. There will definitely be other young directors standing on this stage in the future, and there will also be a day when they "go home".
Gu Xiaogang. Photo provided by the interviewee
Talking about growth:
His first film was shortlisted in Cannes to attract the world's attention
html "Going Home" to the Beijing Film Festival after 2006At the opening ceremony of this Beijing Film Festival, Gu Xiaogang said that he did not expect that six years later, another An identity returns to the Beijing Film Festival. He told reporters that in 2018, he came to the Beijing Film Festival with the script of his first film "Spring River Water Warmth". Before that, the film had been unable to find funds and could not complete the filming.
“I didn’t expect that when I came to the venture capital unit of the Beijing Film Festival, I got recognition from many investors, obtained financing on the spot, and finally completed the film. Without the help of Beijing Film Festival Venture Capital, there would be no "Spring River Plumbing". "Gu Xiaogang said that the film won the "Special Award" for project venture capital at the 8th Beijing Film Festival, and also won the "International Promotion Award" provided by the Beijing International Film Festival Organizing Committee.
"Spring River Plumbing" poster. Photo provided by interviewee
The film is set in an ordinary three-generation family on the banks of the Fuchun River. It tells the story of four brothers taking turns taking care of their elderly mother. It involves family ties and interests, and also shows the warmth and warmth of human relationships under the changing times. The actors are all relatives and friends of Gu Xiaogang, and their true colors provide the film with a real-life quality.
Gu Xiaogang, who studied art, injected the aesthetics of painting into the film. As the film slowly unfolds on the screen like a traditional Chinese scroll, people feel as if they are immersed in a poetic landscape while watching the film. Since the film debuted at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival in 2019, Gu Xiaogang has attracted the attention of the film industry with his unique landscape image aesthetics and delicate and timeless authorial expression. The film was selected as the "Critics Week" of the Cannes Film Festival. "Closing video of the unit. Since then, Gu Xiaogang won two honors for Best Feature Film and Best Director at the First Youth Film Festival.
"I hope to make some new attempts at film aesthetics in this film. I do not regard it as a concept of film. All artistic language comes from painting." Gu Xiaogang said that the "scattered perspective" in the film is very unique to Chinese painting. Some kind of perspective.This comes from Eastern philosophical concepts. The landscapes in Chinese paintings have no vanishing point, so the biggest theme in the movie is the infinity of time and space.
Gu Xiaogang at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Film Festival. Cover news reporter Su Yu photography
talks about the behind-the-scenes filming:
directed the Beijing Film Festival’s main promotional film for the first time
shows Beijing’s “landscape time and space view” from the Summer Palace
In this year’s Beijing Film Festival, the organizing committee specially invited Gu Xiaogang to direct the main promotion of this year’s Beijing Film Festival The film "Spring Dawn in the Old Capital" has launched global promotion. The short film co-starred Chen Kun, Bai Baihe, Li Gengxi, Huang Minghao. It tells the story of a pair of former lovers who revisit their old place and encounter the past in the present; in the past, they also look back at the present.
Gu Xiaogang's new work "Spring Dawn in the Old Capital" uses a unique "landscape view of time and space" and a unique image aesthetic experience to show the magnificent scenes of the northern royal gardens with the rhythm of the south of the Yangtze River. The short film is about 9 minutes long and consists of 3 shots. Between reality and reality, time and space span, ancient and modern intertwined.
When talking about the shooting process, Gu Xiaogang was filled with excitement. How to present "landscape movies" in Beijing? He said that he has been exploring the direction of "landscape movies". Trying to combine the language of landscape painting with movies, the three shots use a "long scroll" method to present the movie, allowing the audience to experience a different movie language.
What is the meaning of the short film that starts and ends with panoramic views of the Summer Palace? Gu Xiaogang said that when he received this task, he immediately thought of the Summer Palace and Kunming Lake. Because he comes from Hangzhou, which is a place where mountains, rivers and cities blend. There is a fusion of tradition and modernity in space. "So I also put tradition and modernity in the space of the Summer Palace. I can see the integration of the royal gardens of the past and modern Beijing."
"The biggest difficulty is of course time. Because of coordinating the time of different departments, there is only one day of shooting. Time, and a lot of preparation work was done on this basis." Gu Xiaogang said that the test shooting of the short film was completed the day before the official shooting, and all scheduling and shooting tests were completed without the actors present. The performances of several actors were very professional, and the on-site filming went particularly smoothly.
The main creative staff of "The World of Grass and Trees" appeared at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Film Festival. Photo provided by the interviewee
Talking about the Beijing Film Festival:
Discover the expert platform for cultivating young filmmakers
"A palace for exchanges among world filmmakers"
"Focus on the future" As the "Newcomers and New Works" section of the Beijing International Film Festival that solicits films from all over the world, As a judge, Gu Xiaogang has his own criteria for judging good movies. "For me, first of all, based on sincerity, whether the author has a sincere view of the movie and a sincere view of the world, this is the most important." In addition, the technical aspects of the audio-visual language and the film Basic completion.
Regarding the films that participated in this review, Gu Xiaogang said that he has seen several works with unique audio-visual language expressions, and some works that are very thick in theme expression. These are also a kind of learning and growth for him.
Gu Xiaogang accepted an exclusive interview with cover news. Cover News Reporter Chen Guangxu Photography
What does the Beijing Film Festival mean to Gu Xiaogang? "This is not only an expert platform for discovering and cultivating young filmmakers, but also an international palace for world filmmakers to communicate." Gu Xiaogang said that the Beijing Film Festival production plan is the most direct way to support young creators today, whether it is funding or Film production can provide the most direct and effective channels. The venture capital conference is held in Beijing, and most film and television companies are also in Beijing. Relatively speaking, the venture capital conference is more like a "blind date conference", and the film bonding rate will be relatively high.
"'Come to Beijing to watch the best movies in the world'. For young people, the most important thing is the screening function of the film festival. For movie fans and film practitioners, they can relive many classic films and experience them themselves. Going to film festivals has the function of cultivating the market and cultivating audiences," Gu Xiaogang said.
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