Editor's Note
The 37th Hundred Flowers Film Award Ceremony was held in Chengdu on August 4. Before the award ceremony, a number of projects were signed at the Science Fiction Forum and Chengdu Film Industry Special Promotion Conference. During this Hundred Flowers Awards, more than 120 film and television-related projects were signed and implemented, with a total investment of over 17 billion yuan.
The booming film and television industry in Chengdu is in full bloom. Film and television talents in Chengdu are also emerging one after another. Red Star News has launched a series of dialogues with the new generation of films in Chengdu. In Chengdu's film and television hotspot, these young film and television talents have grown rapidly, frequently achieved great results, and are moving towards the center of the Chinese film stage.
At the "Ye Di" bar in Yulin, Pan Chuqiao was drinking and chatting with his friends. Someone threw him a theme and said, "Brother, you have to see this." The theme was about the Funan River, and it was also his. Hometown - the "Mother River" of Chengdu. "There are many stories along the river. Whether it is a documentary or a feature film, it is very interesting." Pan Chuqiao said that he is considering making this subject.
As a young director who also masters the skills of screenwriting, production, photography, editing, sound, and color correction, Pan Chuqiao is almost as good as a crew. Since college, his life has been accelerating: making documentaries, starting a company, going to London to study directing, making short films and winning awards. Now, at the age of 28, he has returned home after graduating with a master's degree, signed a contract with Sichuan Emei Film Group, and is preparing for his first film as a director. Theatrical feature film Red Sparrow.
Pan Chuqiao by the Thames River
html One day at the end of July, he sent his location and made an appointment to meet with a Red Star News reporter in a slightly cramped cafe. Even the sound of grinding beans like a chainsaw couldn't stop him from talking. Most of the time, he is serious; occasionally he blurts out Sichuan dialect when he is in a mood, showing his unbridled vigor.一
Pan Chuqiao knows how to talk about herself.
Basic or serious questions will bring out his broadcasting tone. He bites every noun tightly and pronounces it correctly. For a time, I thought he was not from Chengdu; however, once the topic touches "Chengdu", it is inevitable to talk about music, With all kinds of movies and Sichuan accents, he can't help but switch to English and throw out a few authentic and passionate Sichuan dialects.
This is the self-consciousness of an expresser, and it is also a kind of charm. But this ability is not innate, and may have something to do with the experience he received in participating in the venture capital unit of the Shanghai Film Festival's "Young Director Project" in June this year. He has to tell the same story more than thirty times a day, and he also has to master the sense of propriety and scale. "I tell you, it feels like a person is going to be ruined," but it is a great training for him.
Pan Chuqiao at the venture capital meeting
It was in this venture capital unit that Pan Chuqiao made actor Yao Chen, director Lu Chuan, producer Liang Lin, and the outside world aware of the talent and talent of this young director.
Especially Yao Chen, he was dressed formally, wearing a long shirt and trousers, and he seemed serious and serious. However, when he explained the story, he was crackling and extremely humorous. She laughed so hard that she laughed and praised his way of expression for being particularly funny, "There is Sichuan." People's unique sense of relaxation." Yao Chen hopes that Pan Chuqiao can integrate his own personality characteristics and the expression of Sichuan people into this film.
He's working on it.
Picture from Pan Chuqiao's WeChat Moments
"If you really want to make a movie, then write a script." Akira Kurosawa once had such "good advice". This is the case for Pan Chuqiao. He said that he writes for 1 to 2 hours every day. Several short films and graduation masterpieces he directed were all written by him. However, the screenwriter of the venture capital project is not him, but Jiang Yu, who is also standing on the presentation stage with long hair.
Jiang Yu
Last year, he went to Chongqing on a business trip. After being introduced by a friend, I met the local screenwriter Jiang Yu. The two chatted happily and became close friends. On New Year's Eve this year, it snowed heavily in Beijing. Pan Chuqiao was in a small hotel in Dongcheng District when she received a call from Jiang Yu. He said there was a movie script.
Pan Chuqiao, who was alone in a foreign land, was reminded of some melancholy about Sichuan by this script. He described it as a "warm, moist background".He thought it was time to make a movie with a Sichuan flavor; and Jiang Yu's story, which is in Sichuan and Chongqing dialect and is rooted in the cultural background of southwest China, came at the right time.
The story is about a city in the southwest. The two brothers of the Zhao family made a living by selling fish and birds used for releasing animals at the gate of the temple. The older brother is smart and the younger brother is stupid and suffers from "pain loss". The elder brother then packaged his younger brother as a master of "Indestructible King Kong" and deceived believers into buying fish and birds. One day, an old man saw a photo of a "cardinal" on his brother's shelf and offered to buy the cardinal at a high price. The elder brother searched for birds to no avail, and could not resist the temptation of money, so he dyed a white bird into a "cardinal". Unexpectedly, during the transaction, it rained heavily and the paint faded away. When the scam was revealed, the old man's son was furious and temporarily detained his younger brother, forcing him to hunt for the bird. The elder brother had no choice but to go deep into the hinterland of the mountainous area and continue to search for the red bird.
This story moved Pan Chuqiao’s Sichuan Emei Film Group. Qian Lujie, the artistic director of Emei Film Studio and a famous Sichuan director, specially protected him and served as the producer of the film. When they stood on the presentation stage at the venture capital meeting, one was a young director who was young enough, the other was a 53-year-old Mesozoic director who was gradually dyeing his hair, and together with the screenwriter in his prime, they "together impressed Shanghai International Film Festival". This is a matter of "fate", Pan Chuqiao said.
Left, Jiang Yu; Middle, Pan Chuqiao; Right, Qian Lujie
After the public presentation, they attended the project negotiation meeting and explained the project story, production, budget, etc. to the major production and investment companies who came to inquire. Issues such as distribution. And this process continues after the film festival.
Pan Chuqiao and "Red Sparrow" project member
in the negotiation meeting. It is risky to throw money at a 28-year-old young director who has made several short films. Pan Chuqiao said that if he were an investor, he would still hesitate, no matter how good the script was. In particular, "Red Sparrow" is not an art film or an independent film. Its cost is high, some special effects are required, and it also has expectations and requirements for the box office. Already, some companies have expressed interest. He expects to complete financing this year, start shooting next spring, and release the film the year after that.
二
Pan Chuqiao was admitted to Sichuan Sound after graduating from middle school and became a freshman majoring in radio and television directing.
My alma mater has given me many gifts. When Pan Chuqiao talked about laughing, her words were still filled with gratitude.
Speaking of teachers, Vice Dean Wang Lijian has maintained a relationship with him for many years that "we can make friends, eat and drink together";
When it comes to friends, his dormitory is the most "volunteous" in the department. How many buddies are there? You are chasing after me, and if you make a film, I have to make it too. "Young people who are just classmates" have to compete with each other;
As for schools, they especially support innovation and entrepreneurship among current students. Pan Chuqiao was almost the first to start a personal company. There were 6 people in the same dormitory, and later there were 3 companies in total. After that, he took his classmates to shoot commercials, promotional videos, music videos and various short films.
"Actually, during my undergraduate studies, what I did was mostly documentaries." Pan Chuqiao mentioned several great documentary directors in Sichuan, such as Wang Haibing and Liang Bibo. He followed two predecessors in producing a large-scale documentary series "Recording One Hundred Hands of Sichuan", in which he served as the director, photographer, and editor of several unit works.
Documentary
Pan Chuqiao participated in the production of
Some time after graduating from college, "I felt that I was very good. I did well in the small circle and made some money." However, Pan Chuqiao felt that something was missing. "I feel that in this life, I still want to "Go up."
The so-called "go up", in his view, means moving from non-fiction to fiction, from documentaries to feature films. So, he went to study abroad.
The London Film School had a "big impact" on him. After entering the school, he felt that he "began to truly understand movies."
Pan Chuqiao and her classmate
Pan Chuqiao said that language is not a barrier, the key is knowledge reserve. Young filmmakers from Europe, America, Asia and other countries gather together, but you "can't chat with others." Because you haven’t seen the videos others talked about.He had no choice but to ride home, read books and watch movies. When he felt that he had enough reserves, he applied to join the "group chat"; as a result, they turned the topic to the director. Helpless, he went back and studied hard. Unexpectedly, the group of people went around to the film company again.
was like rounds of executions. Although Pan Chuqiao felt tortured, after climbing up again and again, his knowledge, skills and even his understanding of movies became clearer and firmer.
At this point, he checked his pockets and said regretfully that he had forgotten his wallet. In the wallet was a lifetime membership card to the Prince Charles Cinema in central London. "I may not make much money in this life." He said with a smile that he would leave it to his children as a "family heirloom" when he dies.
Pan Chuqiao on the filming set
He still remembers flying from Chengdu to London at the beginning of 2021, and the class held a script election. Dozens of students competed for six shooting qualifications. Pan Chuqiao, who was famous for his drinking, was not favored, but he wanted to give it a try. A script was revised 12 times. Before submission, he sat in the corridor smoking and asked himself, had he achieved "his best"? After thinking for a moment, I pressed submit. As a result, he got hit.
College resources are limited and equipment allocation cannot be equal. A Spanish classmate claimed that he had revised the script 23 times. Both the studio and the crew were much older than him. The crew was in embarrassment and even their own members were disappointed. There is a lack of internal confidence, powerful enemies are lurking outside, and epidemics and weather often cause trouble. All kinds of grinding and grinding are innumerable.
Everyone is waiting to see Pan Chuqiao make a fool of herself. Although
compares himself to an "eggplant beaten by frost", he quickly expressed his opinion: "Using the traditional shooting mode, 4:3 format, using a tripod instead of a rail car, pushing and pulling, panning and lifting, steadily and steadily. Shoot."
Finished photos
Later, the Spanish classmate's film became the worst student film at the London Film Academy in the eyes of his classmates; and Pan Chuqiao's film was sent to his parents with a WeChat message: Why did you say I was not good enough before? ? This time, the sentence he wanted to hear the most after waiting for more than ten years came:
"Dad was wrong, my son is the best."
三
In 2022, Pan Chuqiao, who was still one and a half years away from graduating with a master's degree, began to prepare for his graduation work. "Birth" takes fertility as the theme and uses elements of humor to wrap up a story about the emotional entanglement between two generations and a father's self-redemption.
He wanted to find a residential house near the river in Chengdu, next to the flowing Funan River. After wandering around and bumping into walls, I finally saw a suitable house. Like a foreman, he keeps an eye on the budget every day and rushes the construction deadline. Two days before the start of the project, the landlord's relatives suddenly changed their mind and asked for an additional deposit of 20,000. Pan Chuqiao wanted to give in, but when signing a new contract, the other party asked for an additional 3,500 yuan. After many twists and turns, the police once came to mediate the situation. Pan Chuqiao knew it well - "They are not reasonable people. They don't want anything else, they just want the hard-earned money of a few young people."
delayed the start of filming for a week, and the filming location was changed to Pan Chuqiao's home. With a crew of more than 40 people, the filming went extremely smoothly. "They accepted an almost unacceptable (remuneration) price and helped me do what I wanted to do. This is probably the greatest happiness for a director." In 2024, "Birth" will be launched and won the official title of the 57th Houston International Film Festival Silver Remy Award in Short Film Competition.
Final photos of "Birth"
After graduation, she worked on several film crews. Pan Chuqiao returned to China in March this year. It coincides with the reform of Sichuan Emei Film Group and wants to cultivate young filmmakers for win-win cooperation. Pan Chuqiao, who is experienced and versatile in "decathlon", became the first choice and successfully became the first contracted director. "Red Sparrow" is the first film jointly invested by both parties.
He lives near Sichuan Sound. In addition to preparing for "Red Sparrow", I usually do whatever I have to do. I have to shoot music videos, commercials, and commercial short films. "There is no way, I am still young, and I have to support myself."
During the interview, phone calls came from time to time. The reporter hurriedly said to answer the phone quickly. He smiled a little apologetically, answered the phone, and used another tone of voice, standard Mandarin. He talked about the work with the other party humbly, concisely and neatly. After hanging up the phone, he said that it was about the work of a music video that was recently shot in Shanghai.
In addition to these tasks, he flies to London from time to time. In fact, flying between two places has been the norm since I was in graduate school. When talking about the business there, he jokingly called himself a "foreign comprador." Some domestic film crews want to shoot in London, but there are many inconveniences in terms of personnel and resources. And they can be the matchmakers.
Outside of work, his spare time probably consists of going to Yulin and other places with friends to drink and chat. It's not just chatting, but occasionally we can come up with some inspirations, such as the theme of "Funan River", or another project he is currently working on: he hopes to shoot a Chengdu version of "La La Land", "which is to bring together some old people in Chengdu." The band’s love, hate, grudges and past events were dug up. "
When he was in college, he opened a live house with Prism band lead singer Chen Hengguan and others, and later met and filmed bands such as Sound Toy and Landlord's Cat. "Chengdu itself is also a city of music," he said. "Shops and people like Bistro and White Night are very interesting." Pan Chuqiao feels that these stories and past events have a "Chengdu flavor". The script is not easy, but he is writing it.
Pan Chuqiao admires young director Shao Yihui. He feels that " Love Myth" has a Shanghai flavor; and his wish is to use the works of his director and screenwriter to create a "Chengdu flavor" that belongs to him and Chengdu.
Red Star News reporter Zhang Shihao Li Ruifeng editor Su Jing
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