China News Agency, Beijing, September 17th: To Qifeng: Take another shot of Hong Kong with film
China News Weekly reporter Ni Wei
The Hong Kong film "The Band of Seven" was officially released in the mainland on July 29.
The film has been prepared since 2015, and it was completed in 2018, and it has appeared in many film festivals one after another.
In June 2020, it was shortlisted for the Cannes International Film Festival; in October, it was the opening film of the Busan International Film Festival.
At the Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2021, "The Band of Seven" will become a double-opening film together with "When the Wind Rises".
However, at the end of 2018, Lin Lingdong, one of the directors, passed away suddenly.
The short film "Lost" in "The Band of Seven" that he has completed has become a posthumous work.
Director Lin Lingdong.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
This is a collective appearance of the most representative directors of Hong Kong action films, new wave and gangster films, and several of them have won dozens of Academy Award trophies in total.
Each of them made a short film, telling the story of Hong Kong's past with the film that has been retired.
"Lost" unit stills.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
As a producer and promoter, when talking about this film about Hong Kong memories, Johnnie To becomes very gentle, different from the director who is fascinated by gunfire and gangsters.
He's 67 years old and hasn't made a shootout in six years.
Director To Qifeng's work photo.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Tribute to Film
2010 is a special year. After this year, Johnnie To no longer uses film to make movies.
The exit of film seems to be a symbol of a changing era.
To Qifeng felt regretful. He felt that it was precisely because of the existence of film that Hong Kong films and this group of directors and film workers were created.
"Are we going to do something for the film to show respect and respect for it?" He recalled his thoughts to China News Weekly.
He thought of going to a group of directors to shoot again on film, and this might be the last time.
Shoot what?
The most precious stories should be shot with the most precious things, and the only city that can match the increasingly rare films is Hong Kong.
He called the other directors one by one, and everyone readily agreed to join the team.
Film agencies in Hong Kong are almost nowhere to be found, and there is no place for printing.
They found some film in Bangkok and Taipei.
"Waste some time, waste some money." Du Qifeng said.
The original plan was to combine eight short films, each corresponding to a decade, named "Eight and a Half", borrowing the name of Fellini's classic work.
But John Woo withdrew halfway due to physical reasons, and the 1970s became blank.
So it became "Seven", seven stories, from the 1950s to the future.
"Return" unit stills.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
These 70 years are overlapping the life journey of this generation of directors.
Of the 7 old Hong Kongers, 4 were born in the 1940s, and the remaining 3 were born in the 1950s. The eldest was Yuan Heping, born in 1945, and To Qifeng, 67, was the youngest.
Yuan Heping (right) director's work photo.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Yuan Heping and Sammo Hung became famous in the 1970s and are representatives of the rise of Hong Kong action films.
In the 1970s, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan successively established the style for Hong Kong action films, and Yuan and Hong were the heroes behind the martial arts.
In the late 1970s, a group of young people who returned from studying abroad began to use the lens to show Hong Kong's history and social experience, setting off a "new wave" of Hong Kong films. Xu Anhua, Tsui Hark, and Tan Jiaming were the three most important standard-bearers.
And Johnnie To and Lin Lingdong are the most outstanding authors of Hong Kong gangster movies, and they are both disciples of Wang Tianlin.
The 50 years of Hong Kong movies are almost summed up by them.
Director Sammo Hung's work photo.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
After watching these films, Du Qifeng, the producer, saw the common emotions among people of this generation, and also felt some different feelings.
"I would think, oh, it turns out that Lin Lingdong thinks this way, Tsui Hark thinks that way, and Sammo Hung looks at that era in this way. There are many things I didn't expect." His tone slowed down as if sinking into a memory , "When you add it up, you can see - that's how Hong Kong came here."
Director Xu Anhua.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Tan Jiaming (front right) director's work photo.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
north and south
It has been nearly 20 years since the Hong Kong director collective "Go North".
20 years is enough to know "whoever loses who wins", in Du Qifeng's eyes, this may also be everyone's fate.
In 2004, with the entry into force of CEPA ("Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement"), Hong Kong directors such as Chen Kexin, Tsui Hark, Wang Jing, and Liu Weiqiang successively went north to cooperate with mainland film companies.
After Du Qifeng followed them, he released his first co-production "Single Men and Women" in 2011. He explained the reason for being late as his poor Mandarin.
Tsui Hark (second from right) director's work photo.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Today, Tsui Hark is fully integrated into the mainland market. The latest works are "Changjin Lake" and "Changjin Lake: Water Gate Bridge" - he is one of the three co-directors, and Liu Weiqiang has also directed "Captain China" and "China". doctor".
In 2016, Du Qifeng turned around and returned to Hong Kong Island after filming "Three Lines".
In June 2016, John To and starring Zhong Hanliang were in Chengdu to promote the film "Three Lines".
Photo by Liu Zhongjun
Film researcher Xie Feng once pointed out that To Qifeng's works always contain reflections on society.
In "Underworld", which brought him international fame, what he really wants to talk about is the change and the constant in the great changes of the times.
In the first part, the times seemed to have changed, but the gang still believed in the dragon head stick and the uncles. In the second part, it really changed.
"What I'm trying to say is where to go," he said.
He himself was plagued by the question of "where to go".
In 1993, he directed "The Death Judge" and "Ji Gong" starring Stephen Chow. The prosperous Stephen Chow dominated the set, which made John To, the director, depressed.
After a whole year of free time, he realized that movies should be personal things, and he decided to make author movies in the commercial Hong Kong film world.
In 1996, after many deep chats with Wei Jiahui from TVB, the two established "Galaxy Image" and officially started construction.
At that time, the Hong Kong film market was already in decline. In 1993, 207 films were produced, and in 1995, it dropped to 150, and Hollywood films were crushing.
In this gap, Galaxy Imaging launched the very personal style "Birth of a Prefix", "Dark Flower", "Very Sudden", "Gunfire", "Two Only Live One", in the middle of violent violence and death, always There is an air of serenity and grace that he calls "painful romance."
In the ten years of the decline of Hong Kong films, Galaxy Image has saved face and maintained the vitality of Hong Kong films.
During the promotion of "Three Lines" in 2016, on the forum of Peking University, an audience asked him when he would film "Underworld 3". He affirmed that he would definitely do it, but now the time is wrong, no matter when it is filmed, "the content is not good. will change".
There was always something certain in his heart, like a reef, motionless in the ebb and flow of the tide.
Talking about the past few years with China News Weekly, Du Qifeng said, "Of course I wish I had more works." He said, "In our terms, we should make movies smarter."
freedom and new life
Du Qifeng often shows stubbornness and strength, and people always talk about legends that he ruthlessly scolded which actor on the set.
Because of his dissatisfaction with the selection mechanism of the Academy Awards, he made no secret of his anger and disappointment. He has not participated in this annual party for nearly 20 years, even though the organizing committee continues to award him nominations and awards.
However, he has never really separated from the Hong Kong film industry. Instead, he has taken the initiative to have a sense of responsibility like a parent. For example, this time he organized a collective tribute like "The Band of Seven".
In 2005, he launched the "Fresh Wave Short Film Competition", personally looking for investment, training, and producer, to find new talent for Hong Kong films.
The "Fresh Wave" program has lasted for more than ten years, and at least ten new directors have surfaced.
A still from the "Golden Everywhere" unit.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In 2016, he personally served as the producer, escorting three young people from the Fresh Wave Project, and filmed "The Big Tree and the Wind", which won five awards including Best Picture, Director and Screenwriter at the next year's Academy Awards. The grand prize, he still did not attend.
However, he feels that the younger generation of filmmakers lacks a little bit of imagination.
In recent years, several new works by young directors such as "Hand-Rolling Cigarette" and "Drifting in Turbid Water" have received good responses. In addition, "Treading the Snow to Seek Plums", "Big Trees and Wind" and "Ignorant Thoughts" in previous years, the younger generation of Hong Kong The filmmakers gradually showed their edge.
Compared with the era when hundreds of flowers bloomed, Hong Kong films today seem to have shrunk to two types: police and bandit action films and social realistic films. The former is responsible for the box office and the latter is responsible for the art.
"Compared with previous films, I would think that children today are very narrow in choosing topics or creative ideas, and not broad enough." He talked about his impression of current creations, "The younger generation compares (focusing on) social issues, or those around them. The real feeling. In the past, Tsui Hark, Sammo Hung or Ba Ye (Yuan Heping), many of them were created out of nothing.”
Of course, times have changed.
In the past, when martial arts films, police and bandit films, comedy films and other types of films crowded the theaters, it was a commercial era that was difficult to replicate. At that time, Hong Kong's social economy also ushered in a rapid growth.
The market for Hong Kong films is not only local, but also spills over to the mainland, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and other regions. Entertainment is a golden pass to get through different regions.
Johnnie To understands the difference between the present and the past.
Now Hong Kong films have returned to the local market.
In the future, there will be collective assignments like "The Band of Seven", which may be handed over to the younger generation.
"The creation of young directors, I hope to be able to support, to do more, I hope to do." Du Qifeng said.
Director Du Qifeng attended the 2nd Pingyao International Film Festival.
Photo by Wei Liang
Time is always moving forward, farewells happen at every moment, and film has finally become an antique in the digital age.
"Some things can't be kept, and sometimes I ask, is it really so important to keep?" Du Qifeng seemed to ask himself, "We are just civilians, and we may not have such a powerful force to keep (them). But losing It will never come back, it will never appear again, it will be a pity.”
Now, not only are there no places to produce and develop film, but there are not many movie theaters left that can show film.
So this "Seven" shot on film, in the end, is still shown in digital form.
(Finish)