Chinanews.com, Shanghai, December 12 (Reporter Xu Jing) 4 is the 2023th anniversary of the birth of the famous director Xie Jin. "Shanghai Tradition, Chinese Style and Global Vision: The International Symposium on the Centenary of Xie Jin's Birth" was held in Shanghai from the 100st to the 1rd, and Chinese and foreign academic guests conducted dialogues and discussions on seven topics: Xie Jin's films from a global perspective, the people's (literary) nature of Xie Jin's films, the cultural tradition of Xie Jin's films, the global influence of Xie Jin's films, the rethinking of the "Xie Jin film model", the artistic value of Xie Jin's films, and the aesthetic paradigm of Xie Jin's films.
At the seminar, the "Xie Jin China Film Research Center" was inaugurated. Courtesy of Shanghai University
During the seminar, the inauguration ceremony of the "Xie Jin China Film Research Center" was also held, and Professor Liu Haibo of Shanghai University served as the director of the center.
Xie Jin is an outstanding representative of the third generation of Chinese film directors, a banner figure of Shanghai film, and the first dean of the School of Film and Television Arts and Technology of Shanghai University, the predecessor of Shanghai Film Academy of Shanghai University. In his more than 60 years of directorial career, he has co-directed and independently directed 36 films, won many important awards for Chinese films, and was awarded the title of "Pioneer of Reform" as the only film director at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up.
Xu Chunping, chairman of the Shanghai Xie Jin Film Art Foundation, said that after a series of commemorative activities, this high-level and more profound academic seminar is an exclamation point for this year's centennial Xie Jin commemoration activities, which is very important to sort out the precious legacy left by Xie Jin for Chinese films and discuss the current value of commemorating Xie Jin films.
He Xiaoqing, Dean of Shanghai Film Academy of Shanghai University, recalled the previous Xie Jin seminars held at Shanghai Film Academy of Shanghai University, and said that this is not only a commemoration of Director Xie Jin, but also an opportunity to re-acquaint himself with Director Xie Jin in the new historical period.
Professor Hu Zhifeng of Beijing Normal University summarized the "Xie Jin spirit" as "personality spirit", "artistic spirit" and "cultural spirit". He said that Xie Jin's personality spirit is "almost naïve and sincere", kindness from the heart and "great love" for the party, the motherland, and the people; Xie Jin's "artistic spirit" is manifested in his excellence, precise grasp and in-depth research on art; Xie Jin's "cultural spirit" is manifested in his "first-world worries" spirit as a Chinese traditional knowledge person, and as a modern intellectual, he is closely related to society, rational and critical spirit, which together constitute Xie Jin's "spirit of responsibility".
Marco Müller, a famous Italian film curator and film historian, recalled director Xie Jin's creative career, pointed out the long tradition of Xie Jin's "melodrama", and commented that director Xie Jin is a person who tirelessly pursues both Chinese and foreign films.
Rao Shuguang, president and professor of the China Film Critics Society, pointed out that in order to truly understand the people's nature and people's aesthetics of Xie Jin's films, it is necessary to start from the people's position and people's feelings. From the dimension of modernity, it has promoted the development of mainstream Chinese films.
Fumitoshi Karima, a professor at the University of Tokyo in Japan, recalled several public screenings of Xie Jin's films in Japan, saying that Xie Jin's films played an important role in spreading Chinese culture and conveying the life emotions of the Chinese people in the 20s of the 80th century, and were praised by Japanese audiences as "textbooks about China" and enjoyed a good reputation in the Japanese art criticism circles and the film market.
Chen Xihe, a professor at Shanghai University, focused on several key words such as Shanghai film aesthetics, new Chinese film aesthetics, melodrama, and legendary narrative, and pointed out that Xie Jin's film integrates the Shanghai film tradition that emphasizes humanistic modernity and pays attention to the style of realism with the new Chinese film aesthetics that shows the national narrative, and unfolds a personal legendary narrative in the changing fate of the country, showing a deep concern for personal fate and value. Chen Xihe concluded that although national aesthetics has undeniable advantages in current Chinese creation, the humanistic aesthetics that traditional Shanghai films and Xie Jin's films focus on still have indelible value in the current development of Chinese films.
The conference was hosted by Shanghai University, organized by Shanghai Film Academy of Shanghai University, Key Innovation Team of Shanghai High-level Local Universities, Film Theory Research (Chinese and English) Magazine, co-organized by the Film and Television Creation and Criticism Center of Shanghai University, Film Industry and China Story Innovation Research Base, Shanghai Smart Film and Television Innovation Research Center, and supported by Shanghai Xie Jin Film Art Foundation. (ENDS)