China News Agency, Harbin, February 21. Question: How does the documentary let the world see the beauty of Chinese ice sculptures?
——Interview with Los Angeles-based Chinese filmmaker Qi Binying
China News Agency reporter Wang Nina
At the 2022 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, "Ice World" (Ice World, also translated as "Ice World") won the Best Feature Documentary Award.
The film took four years to shoot, and recorded the real work and life of tens of thousands of migrant workers in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, China, to build a world of ice and snow.
"Ice Kingdom" was produced by Qi Binying, an overseas member of the Harbin Overseas Chinese Federation and a Los Angeles Chinese filmmaker. This is her first attempt at a documentary after many years of creating single films and TV series, allowing more people in the world to see the ice and snow in Harbin and even China beauty of.
China News Agency "East and West" recently interviewed Qi Binying to tell the story behind the film.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
China News Agency reporter: What was your original intention for filming "Ice Building Kingdom"?
Qi Binying:
This documentary pours my love and nostalgia for my hometown Harbin.
At the beginning of 2018, when I was shooting a movie, I entered the ice construction site of Harbin Ice and Snow World.
I saw that hundreds of large cranes and cranes hoisted huge ice blocks from the ground, and tens of thousands of ice construction workers built ice walls one after another.
The ice sculpture building is changing every minute. A few hours later, the ice building rises from the ground. I can only use the word "shocking" to describe it.
Promotional photo for Ice Kingdom.
Photo provided by the interviewee
I was born and raised in Harbin, and ice sculptures are an important memory in my life.
When I was young, my friends and I went to the riverside to look at the ice lanterns in winter, and walked on the central street to admire the ice sculptures. Although the wind was cold, my heart was not cold, but it was very interesting.
Ice sculpture architecture requires not only exquisite carving techniques, but also the professionalism of architects, reflecting the creativity of artists.
In the world of ice and snow, the ice sculptures of the "Great Water Method" of the Old Summer Palace, the ice-built Twin Towers, the super-long ice slide, and the ice dolls, with the addition of LED lights, become a "Dream of Ice and Snow Disney".
In recent years, various high-end construction machinery and heavy equipment have been gradually used in the construction of the ice and snow world, making many magnificent ice buildings that could not be completed before realized.
It is a large number of simple and unpretentious migrant workers who have completed these magnificent ice buildings. With their strong willpower, they overcome the extreme cold weather and work hard, so that tourists from all over the world can see the magnificent world of ice and snow, which deeply moved me. .
The dual love for my hometown and movies makes me want to record all this with movies, to show the tenacious will of migrant workers and the miracle of building an ice kingdom in 15 days to the world.
Let the world know that there is a city called Harbin in northern China, where there is one of the most beautiful ice art in the world, it is not only ice sculptures, but also a unique dream city built with ice in the world .
The picture in the documentary: migrant workers on the road.
Photo provided by the interviewee
China News Agency reporter: Why did it take as long as 4 years to make this documentary?
Qi Binying:
It is extremely difficult to shoot ice construction documentaries.
Ice construction sites are very dangerous. Large ice trucks shuttle back and forth on the construction site, and large ice blocks of hundreds of kilograms are often thrown off the trucks.
The entire ice construction cycle is only 15 days a year. In order to ensure that the project is completed on time, the ice construction company works day and night. It is impossible to stop the ice construction for us to shoot a documentary. Once the construction is over, the migrant workers will return to the countryside.
We want to shoot and record the ice construction work and life of migrant workers within 15 days, so we can only shoot as much as possible.
Once, at the ice construction site, the arms of dozens of cranes were flying back and forth in the air.
Hundreds of ice shovels and various types of trucks turned around in different corners on the ground. The scene was very spectacular, but our photographer forgot to turn on the camera when he was attracted.
When we first started filming, we followed some construction designers and technicians, but during the interview, we found that more than 10,000 migrant workers from surrounding rural areas were actually doing the ice construction work on site.
These migrant workers farm in summer and work as ice construction workers in the ice and snow world in winter.
In order to catch up with the construction period, they lived and ate at the construction site, worked day and night in the cold weather of nearly -30 ℃, lived in a temporary dormitory, and sat on ice to heat and eat frozen meals, but it only took 15 days. Build a world of ice and snow that shocks the world.
Their stories moved me deeply, so I immediately changed the shooting plan and started to record the work and life of migrant workers in the ice construction with a camera.
In my opinion, the most important thing for a documentary is to capture the stories of ordinary people.
The 4-year shooting process is very long, and the inner strength that allowed me to sustain it is my attachment to my hometown.
Migrant workers eat in the ice and snow.
Photo provided by the interviewee
China News Agency reporter: Through this documentary, what do you want to show the world?
Qi Binying:
Art has no borders. Ice sculpture art can overcome some differences between Chinese and Western cultures, allowing the world to understand China more directly.
This is China's first film documentary filming the history of ice construction development. It started from the first ice lantern parade in Harbin Zhaolin Park in 1963 and ended in 2022. The documentary spans nearly 60 years, starting with the ice construction workers in Harbin. The rich ice and snow natural resources and profound ice and snow cultural connotations in northern China are shown in the art form of film and documentary, so that domestic and foreign audiences can understand Harbin, Heilongjiang, and the colorful world of Harbin in the ice and snow.
These ice buildings also contain many Chinese cultural elements.
We interviewed Yang Zhi, the chief designer of Ice and Snow World at the time. He had nearly ten years of work experience and was also the designer of the 48-meter twin ice towers in 2019.
Yang Zhi said that the most important thing in 2019 is to create a main tower that is different from the past. He adopted the most popular non-linear design scheme and combined it with the design language of Chinese landscapes.
Ice and snow art has its own advantages and disadvantages, and it is also a "kaleidoscope" of cultural exchanges between the East and the West.
Due to cultural differences, there may be some differences in the angles of appreciating ice sculptures between China and the West, but through exchanges and learning, we can learn about the charms of Eastern and Western cultures.
Director Qi Binying at the shooting site of Ice and Snow World.
Photo provided by the interviewee
Reporter from China News Agency: How does the award of "Ice Building Kingdom" promote the introduction of Chinese ice lanterns and ice and snow culture?
Qi Binying:
Humanities in different regions of the world have derived different ice and snow cultures.
After this documentary won the award, it is of far-reaching significance for the promotion of Chinese ice and snow art culture with Chinese characteristics and elements of Harbin, and for the world to understand Harbin with its unique ice and snow charm.
The film festival is one of the best ways to improve the cultural image of a city, and it is also a good place to convey cultural information.
After the documentary was completed in January 2022, I immediately began to apply for participation in international film festivals, and finally won several international awards.
I also specially produced the English version of the lines and commentary for the documentary.
Director Qi Binying answered audience questions at the American Asian Film Festival.
Photo provided by the interviewee
After a screening at the Asian Film Festival in Los Angeles, I talked face-to-face with the audience, and some audience members were amazed at the magnificence of the Harbin Ice and Snow World.
They told me that they had never seen such a large-scale ice building.
Before that, they had never even heard of Harbin in China, where there is such a magnificent world of ice and snow in winter, and they all said that they must go to Harbin in China to see for themselves.
Ice lanterns and ice and snow culture are full of emotional warmth. Letting them become a bridge of communication between the East and the West, promoting Chinese culture and promoting international exchanges is my original intention and motivation for shooting this documentary.
(over)
Respondent profile:
Qi Binying, screenwriter and producer of films and TV dramas, overseas committee member of Harbin Overseas Chinese Federation, has created many films and TV dramas.
Representative works include the movie "Crane Boy", the TV series "Into the First Year of High School", "The Enemy's Family", "Young People in the Farm Yard" and so on.