Director Jia Zhangke: "My films have never left today's China."

This year, director Jia Zhangke did two major events. The first major event was that the first BRICS co-production film "Where is the Time?", which he supervised and was the only China director to participate in, was released globally. The second major event was that he held the first Pingyao International Film Exhibition in his hometown of Shanxi.

Original title: Participated in filming a BRICS co-production and holding the Pingyao International Film Festival. Director Jia Zhangke-"My films have never left the present China"

This year, director Jia Zhangke has done two major events.

The first major event was that the first BRICS co-production film "Where is the Time?", which he supervised and was the only China director to participate in, was released globally.

The second major event was that he held the first Pingyao International Film Exhibition in his hometown of Shanxi.

Once upon a time, Jia Zhangke had a nickname-"Chief Jia". He once wrote in his book that one day he was wandering around a store selling pirated DVDs in Beijing. After searching for a long time, he found nothing. Just as he was about to leave, the boss suddenly said to him: "There is a 'Chief Jia's' Platform '. Do you want it?"

For him, that story means an era. From "Xiaowu" in 1998 to "Where Has the Time Gone" in 2017 and the Pingyao International Film Festival, the world has seen the subtle changes in the past 20 years.

The cultural ideals of individuals and countries are consistent

. The BRICS Summit was held in China this year. Jia Zhangke served as the producer of the first BRICS co-production film "Where is the Time?" People are very curious why he was chosen to write this "proposition composition"? What would he do?

"" Where has the time gone "is not a proposition composition, it is a composition on the same topic." Jia Zhangke believes that the film itself is an independent and independent creation of the artists. The theme was brainstormed by five directors, and "Where has the time gone" resonates most. As for why he chose himself, Jia Zhangke said,"On the one hand, my own film work in the past is relatively international, and it is easy to organize a creative team, which is a resource advantage; on the other hand, I have been filming at the pace of almost every two years in the past few years. It is indeed still in the active period of creation."

Some people say that Jia Zhangke's image has also changed in recent years. But he himself believes that many times the goals of individual creators are consistent with the goals of the entire country. "In my 20 years of film work, I have always emphasized the importance of culture to the country and the nation. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China also mentioned that 'culture rejuvenates the country, culture strengthens the nation', which shows that we personally are consistent with the cultural ideals of the country." Another example is cultural self-confidence. The whole society has formed a consensus. This is a good thing."To do something that I can do under this consensus, I feel that it is in line with my ideals rather than contrary to it." Jia Zhangke said,"My films have never left today's China."

It's time for China films to establish their own evaluation system.

Jia Zhangke said that he "always wanted to hold a film exhibition focusing on non-Western commercial films." The movies that you can see now are mainly Western commercial films. In addition, movies from Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and other places are not very noticeable to the audience. But as a film worker, I know that film creation in these regions is very active and has high achievements. It is almost the most dynamic part of the world's film."

The birth of Pingyao International Film Festival turned Jia Zhangke's vision into reality. This film exhibition attracted great attention. It is estimated that half of the audience during the film exhibition will be local audiences, and half will be students from other places, film enthusiasts, etc., with an attendance rate of 93%. "We have always said that China films should be diversified, the film structure should be optimized, and the quality of films should be improved. This depends on not only the creators, but also the audience. Audiences begin to have diverse movie-watching habits, and only when they begin to be exposed to more diverse films outside Hollywood can they form diverse movie-watching needs." Jia Zhangke said that this audience base is the biggest driving force for creation and market progress.

"In the past, we only produced about 200 films a year. Now our output is much larger. In fact, it is stronger from an industrial perspective, but I think the influence of the industry should be transformed into the influence of culture. As part of the world's films, China films travel in various international film festivals and film festivals and accept international judgment. We have always hoped that China can also have a very credible and professional platform. China's audience, China's film critics, and China's media can form their own evaluation system and put forward China's views around the world. I think the time is ripe to establish this system." Jia Zhangke said that the purpose of the Pingyao Film Exhibition is to build a platform for the world to better understand China films and for China audiences to understand more non-Western commercial films, thereby promoting the diversification of China's film creation and movie-viewing needs.

In the past two years, Jia Zhangke moved back to his hometown of Fenyang to live. For him in his 40s, his career and life have reached the stage of connecting the past and the future. "From the perspective of curatorial, I have said that the Pingyao Film Exhibition should focus on academic sorting. This year, we did a retrospective of French director Melville, and we may be another director next year. I am very interested in sorting out and inheriting the film works and film spirit of my predecessors. Because I think culture relies on accumulation. Film culture has a characteristic that people seek innovation, but the spirit of innovation also comes from an understanding and mastery of tradition." Jia Zhangke's "beginning" is to do more things to help young directors."In the past, I was a young man myself and had no resources, no influence, and I couldn't help others. Now that I have some experience and resources, I can do something to help young people."

Editor: Mary