Cui wants to bring hope with "Chengdu"

Hong Kong director Cui Jian hopes he can help bring a brighter future for the people who have been pained by the Sichuan earthquake with film "Chengdu, I Love You."

The director made the remark on Sunday during a Gala Presentation of the film which Lee Yong-kwan, co-director of the 14th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) said he "wanted to invite as the opening film".

"Chengdu", helmed by Cui and Chinese director Fruit Chan, was made as a tribute to the people living in Chengdu, south of Sichuan which was hit by a 7.9-magnitude quake in 2008.

Of the three parts -- past, present and future -- of the film, South Korean director Hur Jin-ho's segment was pulled for release as a separate feature-length film titled "A Good Rain Knows", leaving Chan's "1976" and Cui's "2029" in the pic.

Below is the press conference held after the screening of "Chengdu", attended by directors Chan and Cui, their lead actresses Weiwei Tan and Anya Wu and producer Chen Weiming.

Q: The three directors touched on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake -- a theme which is not an easy to handle. How did you come about starting this?
Chen Weiming: The first thing I took into consideration producing this film was the impact it would have. It had to be about a natural disaster but influence the audience by delivering a warmth from within the story. And I planned on shooting the film with four directors because I didn't think I would be able to get the effect I intended unless I worked with Wong Kar-wai or Zhang Yimou. I also wanted to make the film with directors from South Korea, Japan, China and outside mainland China so it would receive the attention of the press from all those countries, although I ended up not working with Japan because it didn't quite work out. Hur Jin-ho's style worked with us well when we previously shot "April Snow" and I wanted to help Cui Jian, a close friend of mine, achieve his dream to become a movie director.

Q: I'm curious to know how you felt, as directors, taking on this film?
Fruit Chan: This movie was a big challenge for me. I'm not from mainland China but Hong Kong so I thought there were parts of me that wouldn't understand the Chinese sensibility. So I worried a lot about having to handle a topic as big as the Cultural Revolution. In particular, I was silently pressured to shoot it exactly as it had been. I wanted to emphasize the historical part but more than anything, tell people the smaller story about what happened in Chengdu.
Cui Jian: I experienced two earthquakes during my life -- although not directly -- and one of them was the Sichuan earthquake. I wanted to inform people more about it.

Q: You each talk about Chengdu with different topics. How did you decide on which to go use?
Cui: I had heard an actual story about a boy who survived the Chengdu earthquake and saved three other peoples lives. I was curious to find out what happened to that boy. And I'm a rocker so it was important for me to see how the inspiration I get from my music, matches with my topic.
Chan: When we went on a preliminary survey to Chengdu, me and director Heo didn't know what topic we would go by. Sichuan is famous for pandas, mask-changing and tea houses. I didn't want to turn the film to be tourist information-like since almost everyone knows about pandas and mask-changing so I picked tea master as the topic.

Q: There actually are a lot of movies based on natural disasters. What is it that you wanted to show through this movie?
Cui: I wanted to talk about two things. An earthquake is a natural phenomenon where the earth's crust moves and humans can only be weak in front of that power. I wanted to talk about that unavoidable power that we can get drawn into while on the other hand, I wanted to show that we also have the power to predict and overcome such things. Natural disasters are fate and pain but I wanted it to be a stimulus which would help bring better outcomes in the future. Of course, I haven't been through it myself so I may be talking from an onlooker's perspective but I hope this film can help transform Chengdu people's current pain into hope for their future. I think that is also one of the reasons I do music.

Q: Weiwei Tan, this is your first time acting and Anya Wu, you grew up in New York but you both had to play the role of women during the times of the Cultural Revolution. It must've not been easy.
Wu: The first reason I got to take on this role is because the director gave me the chance to. So I read a lot of books to try to properly understand the Cultural Revolution. I also spent about a month in Chengdu, talking to the people there about their culture back in the days. The biggest challenge was learning tea manners. I personally think I did okay and I think it was a chance to break out from my past image.
Tan: Like you said it was my first movie and I thought I would have a hard time when I looked at the scenario but I actually had an easier time because I have no experience. There's a scene where my emotions blow up and I think both the music and picture were both expressed very well in that scene.

Q: What is the meaning of submitting "Chengdu, I love you" to the PIFF and what are your future plans?
Chen: The PIFF is an important means of promotion. It is important to make this movie known. Then we'll have to decide on what to do after seeing the response of the audience.


Reporter : Wee Geun-woo eight@10asia.co.kr
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@10asia.co.kr
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@asiae.co.kr, Jang Kyung-Jin three@10asia.co.kr