Your new movie is "Approaching the Book of Changes": in a few words, what is it about?
A. "The Book of Changes" is a classic work of the Chinese civilization, one of the four major civilizations of mankind. It is considered to be the source of all the classics and truths, the general program of the Chinese traditional culture and the total source of the Chinese civilization. It has a profound and far-reaching impact on the whole Chinese history and even the progress of human civilization. "The Book of Changes" is also considered as the language and code to interpret the universe. It not only contains the earliest philosophical principles in China and even the world, but also contains the mysteries of natural science that have just been lifted off the tip of the iceberg by modern scientists.
"Approaching the Book of Changes" is an all-round and comprehensive analysis of the comprehensive cultural phenomenon of "The Book of Changes". The film is 88 minutes long. Starting from the source of the Book of Yi, the film traces the inheritance and development of the I Ching with Fuxi, Yan Emperor, Yellow Emperor, Zhou Dynasty, King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, Confucius, Laozi, the hundred schools of thought, and the inheritance and development relationship with Confucianism, Neo-Confucianism and Chinese studies. It also expounds the special relations of I Ching in western philosophy and natural sciences with Hegel, Leibniz, Einstein, Needham, Boer, Christopher, Jung and so on. The important inspiration of the principle of Changes to the four Nobel Prize winners, the magical correspondence with binary, quantum mechanics, human genetics, and the special influence on the era of computers, the Internet and big data. Film from the perspective of history, culture, philosophy, science, according to the clear logical relationship, simply tells the story of the origin of the yi jing, development, change, extension of the whole process, layer by layer uncover the mystery of the yi, for thousands of years in the history of Chinese civilization and a series of unsolved mystery, for the first time to the world. It is a collection of knowledge, appreciation, historical materials, popular science, artistic, academic film and television works.
Q. Why did you decide to make a documentary on this subject?
A. There is no such course in Chinese textbooks, so Chinese people know "The Book of Changes" mainly outside the textbooks. In societies outside school, Ching is more used to explain divination. So, at first, like most Chinese people, I only knew that the Book of I Ching was a book of divination. But that view was changed one day in early 2021. A friend suggested that I go to a yi book research organization to undertake some publicity business. In order to understand this business, I found information about the yi book on the Internet. In the process of reading these materials, I suddenly found that "The Book of Changes" was not originally thought of as just a book of divination, but a very profound classic work with profound philosophical and scientific connotations. In particular, most of the comments believe that, from ancient times to the present times, many people have tried to explain the I Ching clearly, including the famous thinkers and authoritative great figures of various ages. However, no one has ever explained the I Ching clearly and made it the biggest unsolved mystery.. in the history of Chinese civilization seeing these comments, I began to think, since everyone can't explain them, it's up to me. It happened that I was planning to create a new documentary, and it felt like it was coming out for me. I was so excited that I decided to write the script immediately. After the script was written, I asked the Film Bureau (appointed), Tsinghua University, Northwest University and other experts and scholars to review and demonstrate it. After more than a year of shooting and production, it was finally launched in March 2022, on the online platform. Thankfully, the film has been well received and has appeared on the hit list for many times. Subsequently, we presented the film to a number of international film festivals that have won more than 10 awards so far, including the "Rome International Film Award" for September best documentary award. Here, I am very grateful to the judges of the film festival, which not only gave me more confidence in the film field, but also gave me a strong force to continue to work hard.
A. I was born in 1962 in rural Weinan city, Shaanxi Province, China with the longest cultural history, only 100 kilometers away from the famous ancient capital of Xi'an. In 1979, I took the college entrance examination and was admitted to Xi'an Army College to major in infantry command. To be honest, I am not suitable for this major, so since I was at the age of 18, I have started writing literature after class. At the age of 19, he began to publish news reports, poems, essays, novels and other works in newspapers and periodicals. After graduating from the military academy, I was assigned to be a platoon leader in the army. As my writing skills constantly improved, I was later transferred to the military organs as a news officer. In 1989, I was transferred from the army, first working as a civil servant in the government propaganda department, and later being transferred to the Shaanxi Workers' Newspaper office as a reporter and editor. In 2001, I founded my own company, Shaanxi Meitu Culture Communication Co., LTD., mainly engaged in newspaper advertising business and book editing and publishing business. During this period, I have not given up writing, and I have tried various literary themes and creative styles, but there is a creative style, I have dreamed of trying since I was 18, but I have never had the opportunity to get close to it, that is, to create and shoot film and television works. In 2010, I led the company's staff to boldly enter the field of film and television, and successively undertook two TV programs in Shaanxi Radio and Television Station. At the same time, I wrote and directed myself, began to create and shoot my first documentary works, and began my film and television career. However, objectively speaking, I have never experienced any school study or professional training in film and television production before this, and I know almost nothing about the film and television field. So, after entering the film and television industry, all is completely rely on self-study in practice, my self-study way and many people are different, when I don't know an industry or career, I am not the first to find a place to learn training, learn again, but directly to dry, in the process of dry problems to learn, while learning while solving the problem. My learning methods include: looking for some learning materials or searching for the answers to some questions online, or learning to consult with professionals, or learning to observe the experience through the set. But the way I spent the most time and energy in learning was watching other people's films. The films I choose to learn to watch are also very strict, which must be the type I like and want to learn, and it must be a high-quality film or blockbuster with the highest level. Once I find a film that meets the requirements, I will study it very carefully. I may watch a film for a long time, maybe several times, maybe watch the film and the script, or watch several such films, until the problem in my mind is solved, and I will know how to do it.
Q. Before "Approaching the Book of Changes", what can you tell us about your film?
A. The first film I created and shot was the documentary "Guanzhong Memory", which lasted 468 minutes, began in 2010, took 8 years to complete, and premiered on Shaanxi Radio and Television Station in 2017. To my surprise, not only did the ratings very high, but then the film also won the "2017 Outstanding Agricultural Television Works" of China Television Artists Association and China CCTV, and then won two other awards in China. CCTV. However, I was not satisfied with only creating and shooting in the field of documentary. As early as 2014, I began to write my first feature film script, "The Male Two True Color", which was completed in that year and was released in 2015. In 2016, my second feature film script, "The Wayward Coin", was shot, and was released in 2017. I had just been the producer and screenwriter of these two feature films, and I didn't dare to be the director, because I didn't know what to be the feature director. In 2018, I began to prepare for the third feature film, "We Are Serious". This time, because of the learning experience of the first two films on the set of shooting, I have a good understanding of the work of a director, so I decided to direct the third feature film by myself. However, in order to test my ability and accumulate some practical experience as an independent director, I first directed three micro films, one of which won the first prize from the Shaanxi Provincial government and the other won the second prize from the Chinese army. These two awards gave me even more confidence. The 2019 story film "We Are Serious" was shot as scheduled, but my first feature film, written and directed, was very unlucky and failed many times. Fortunately, my film finally passed the online review, and I was lucky enough to be broadcast online on the online platform in 2021. However, the money invested could not be recovered. I feel that the shooting of the story film can no longer continue, which reminds me of the creation and shooting of documentaries, because the government does not need to conduct a special review of the documentary, just need to prepare in the broadcast Times. I think this should be a gift to me. So what kind of documentary theme is chosen as the next creative and shooting target? As before, said, a chance, let me and "near the Book of Changes" formed the fate.
Q. Do you have anything you want to share?
A. I don't know what the level of sharing mentioned here is, whether to
complete the investment, creation, shooting, production and distribution
of the project together, or whether to continue to declare our other
projects to compete in the film festival. But I can definitely say, that
we are willing to share in both ways, because this is something that we
all dream of. After the documentary "Approaching the Book of
Changes", our documentary "Xie Mi Qin Opera" was launched on the online
platform in August 2022, but the film is more than 480 minutes long. We
look forward to translate the film into English, release it in the
international field and compete in the international film festival
awards. Another documentary project, "Approaching Chinese Medicine",
the script has been written and is under production. We are willing to
share this project with our interested film and television peers. It is
believed that the project will appear on the list of awards at the end
of next year. Of course, we still have a number of similar projects
to do, because this is our profession, to get the highest award in the
film festival, is also the highest goal we want to achieve, we will
continue to work hard and share our results.
Q. What kind of director do you describe yourself as a director?
A.
For one thing, I may be a stubborn director. The common views in
society do not always convince me, unless they really make sense. I like
to look at all things with independent thinking, and I will find out in
a lot of complex ideas, find things as they are, and frame them
together in a logical way.
Second, I may be a director who likes to
challenge difficult difficulties. I don't like that my film is a
mediocre work. Unless I can't control the film project, even so, I will
be within my power and will do everything I need to do to do my best.
Otherwise, you would rather not do the project.
Third, I may be a
director who insists on originality and pursues personality. When I
wrote the first movie feature film script, I didn't even understand the
format of the feature film script. Many people advised me to read other
people's scripts first, and I said I didn't, because I didn't want to be
too much influenced by other people's scripts. It wasn't until I wrote
the first draft of the script that I began to learn from other people's
scripts and conduct technical specifications in the script format. In
fact, for each of my works, whether in the script or in the film, I may
learn and use others' techniques and skills, but I will never imitate or
copy them. I hope that each of my works should not only be independent
and original, but also have its own style, personality and typic style,
which is my basic requirement for myself as a director.
Fourth, I
may be a director who is not afraid of failure. During my time working
in film and television, I have experienced too many problems,
difficulties, setbacks and failures. Every time, there may be
ninety-nine reasons for me to give up, but as long as there is a reason
for me to insist, then I will not hesitate to stick to it.
In a
word, as a director, I may have more of my own characteristics, but I
can't all say it all here. I believe that when the audience watches my
film, everyone will sum it up something.
A. My favorite movies are Chaplin's comedy films and documentaries made in Europe and America. The least favorite is the movies that say a lot of lies.
Q. Can you tell your favorite movie? Of course, can you also say that you really hate movies?
A.
Director is a career that many people envy, surrounded by so many
bright actors around. But honestly, initially I didn't want to be a
director. I just want to be a good and prolific writer and producer. But
in the filming process of the film, due to our very limited investment,
we simply cannot find a high-level director. And hiring a random
director does not necessarily meet my high standards for the film. I had
to spend some time writing scripts and devote some energy into
directing. I found out that I was not bad, so I fell in love with
directing.
Do the director, I further realize that if you want to
make a good film, the director's role is more important than I thought,
only in the writer and producer while further make a director, will be
the greatest possibility of excellent works, so, I like the director's
work very much now, because I want to make more excellent works.
A. My films and documentaries have been broadcast on online platforms for a long time, and they can be watched online at any time. Some are only paid VIP members. You can watch the "Approaching the Book of Changes" (HERE), "Xie Mi Qin Opera" (HERE and HERE), "Guanzhong Memory" (HERE), "Male dichroism" (HERE), "Wayward coin" (HERE) and "We're serious" (HERE).
Q. Thank you for this very inspiring interview, Hiu. Here at the “Rome International Movie Awards” we look forward to seeing and appreciating your new film productions!
A. Yes, and we'll be back with our new work very soon. Thank you for your interview and the "Rome International Movie Awards" for bringing such an important honor to our team. Thank you very much!
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