[Commentary] The film "The First Incense" directed by Hong Kong director Xu Anhua will be released in Hong Kong on November 25th.

Previously, this film adapted from Zhang Ailing's famous work was controversial after it was released in mainland China.

Because the performance of Zhang Ailing's works in the previous two works was remarkable, the "Three Looks" Zhang Ailing, and the 74-year-old Xu Anhua undoubtedly took on high expectations.

A few days ago, in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency, she said that she is now able to calmly accept the evaluation of the outside world.

She bluntly said that Zhang Ailing is a very ideal writer, but three shooting experiences are enough for her.

  [Concurrent] Hong Kong director Xu Anhua

  I don’t think the audience will think I’m filming again for the fourth time, and if I have limited opportunities to film again, they may not dare to film Zhang Ailing again. It might be better to let other young directors have new ideas. .

I think she is a writer in my mind who is not perfect but very ideal, because she faithfully expressed her vision of human nature from the darkest aspect, with various relationships, and she was actually very bold to break through a lot. bias.

The other is the evaluation of the outside world, I am quite calm.

That is, if it is a criticism, I will listen carefully, if I feel that they are right, I will improve, and if I feel that they are not right, then I will leave it alone, like this.

  [Explanation] Six Golden Film Awards for Best Director Award, three Golden Horse Awards for Best Director Award...This award record has not been broken in the current Chinese film industry.

In 2020, Xu Anhua won the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement in Venice, becoming the first female director in the world to win the award.

The various awards are enough to prove Xu Anhua's irreplaceable important position in the Chinese film circle.

However, to this day, the director still maintains a sense of humility and respect for his profession.

  [Concurrent] Hong Kong director Xu Anhua

  All directors are anxious. All directors are anxious if they can't find money. They don't know how to shoot if they find money. Then they are worried and anxious after shooting. So this is the eternal mood of being a director.

So I think this is just something we have to go through in our career. There are achievements in it and the price it has to pay.

For example, as you said, criticism is something we must accept in our career. So I think if you want to be a director, you must accept both the good and the bad.

So if I say I am special, I feel that this is just my duty.

  [Explanation] As one of the "trends" of the new wave of Hong Kong movies in the 1970s, Xu Anhua's big screen debut "Mad Catastrophe" in 1979 allowed the female director to smoothly "out of the circle" among the same generation of filmmakers, and is now active The film industry's Tsui Hark, Wu Yusen and others have witnessed the rise and fall and development of the Hong Kong film industry in the past half a century.

  [Concurrent] Hong Kong director Xu Anhua

  I can only say that everyone was very excited at that time, it was filming day and night, and then everyone had a very lively discussion.

It’s a bit like you rush forward when you see something. You don’t care about the overall effect and the final consequences, but now it will. Because you have experience, you don’t need to do many things, and you know that it’s impossible, so there’s a lot less. pleasure.

  [Commentary] Since entering the industry, he has directed more than 30 films. Looking back on his original intentions, Xu Anhua appears calm and indifferent.

  [Concurrent] Hong Kong director Xu Anhua

  I am a movie fan. I just went to film school and really wanted to know how the movie was made. Then I was lucky to find a job when I returned to Hong Kong. But at that time, when the TV station opened in Hong Kong, A lot of people are needed, so we were recruited and we became directors as soon as we went, and then we never stopped. They were directors. So in fact, it's a little bit of fate, not something I deliberately strive for.

  [Explanation] Now, even though it has entered an ancient age, the director is still energetic. In the past few days, she has been traveling between the two places, filming, promoting, and interviewing, without stopping for a moment.

In her view, in recent years, the mainland and Hong Kong film markets have promoted and influenced each other, and jointly promoted the development of Chinese-language films.

Today, the mainland of China has increasingly become a huge movie market that has attracted the attention of the world.

  [Concurrent] Hong Kong director Xu Anhua

  It should be around 2000, or in the 1990s (generation) of the last century, Hong Kong people had a special study on the grasp of the movie market and the making of action movies, and then many people came to drive the martial arts drama here. Bar.

But to this day, I found that the domestic (mainland) market and movies already know these things, because its industry is huge, and the progress is huge.

Because many people watch movies in the Mainland, this market is very large, and the audience base is also very large. The whole world is fighting for this market.

  [Explanation] How Chinese-language movies go out is an eternal topic for Chinese-language filmmakers.

The experience of studying literature at the University of Hong Kong gave Xu Anhua a unique literary feeling for film art.

In her view, film is a high-quality medium to convey culture, and dissemination of culture is also an important mission for Chinese-language films to go abroad and into the world.

  [Concurrent] Hong Kong director Xu Anhua

  I think film is a very good medium to convey culture, because it is omnidirectional. A film has music and sound effects. The impression you give to others is that you are in it. Abstract things are particularly touching and intangible. .

Culture is actually intangible.

So I think it is a very powerful medium for introducing culture.

  [Explanation] Today, Xu Anhua is still running between the set, the theater and the studio. Movies and creation are still the backbone of her life. For her, the seventies of women are the golden age.

  Reporter Fan Siyi, Liang Yuan and Luo Siyu reporting from Hong Kong

Editor in charge: [Wang Kai]