I haven’t seen the biopic on Confucius, Kongzi yet, but I can already tell it’s going to be a doozy. Chow Yun-fat’s omniscient face looming in the heavens on the film poster, and his self-bemused, wizened sage smirk on the film stills is one hint, and recent dogged attempts at drumming up nationalism through culture and the arts is another.

Since I am not a Chinese, and non-Chinese are simply not allowed to mock things Chinese (especially Kongzi) even in good spirit, I figure I’ll do like other bloggers and just rip off Han Han’s brilliant post this morning, entitled, “Watching Kongzi.” Read the Chinese here: 韩寒： 《看孔子》

“…To tell you the truth, I’ve never thought there was a need to turn these classic stories into films. From a film perspective, the moment such films are born, they become the antithesis filmmaking, strangling creativity. But if you say that China’s movies with classical-historical themes show no creativity, that’s not right either, because those scriptwriters are often writing incredibly counter-historical scenes, the situation is tangled. And thus the reason why a vast majority of big-budget Chinese films are borrowing classical themes and historical figures is because their investors have lack a sense of security, they hesitate to invest such a great amount of money on some plotline dreamed up by some dubious director. Occasionally, there comes along a director who has an enormous investment, and the freedom to write their own screenplay––the resulting films are even worse. And such is China’s tragic history of film. According to Chou Yun-fat, people who watch this movie and don’t cry cannot be human, I can believe this is his delusion, and I’m sure that during the in-house screenings, all of the producers cried. They cried thinking about how many elementary school students and governmental organizations they will have to drag to the theaters just to break even.
Let’s forget about all political reasons and look at the film itself, it is a failure of a film. The sermonizing in the film isn’t infective at all, when Kongzi is talking about propriety and benevolence in the film, the guy next to me was having a ten-minute long conversation on his cell phone. …
…
Finally, I want to say that the film Kongzi, no matter if it’s from the point of view of the significance of film, profits, artistic pursuits, film exploration, educational enlightenment, warning or admonishing the public, audio-visual experience, entertainment, or documentation of history, there is no need for this film to exist. This film could be erased completely from film history.”

Despite all this, I’m still happy that Avatar was pulled from the theaters just to make room for this film.
The illusion of global culture has been shattered by recent events with Google.cn, and Hillary’s speech on the “freedom to connect.” China’s official response to “so-called Internet freedom” makes me shudder, are we truly entering a virtual cold war? At the very least, films like this should prove the national agenda is still filtered through culture, remember Founding a Nation? At the least, its one more attempt by China’s film industry to harmonize ticket sales and pleasing the film censors. Yes, I will see Kongzi, because who can’t appreciate the wry irony of watching the former “God of Gambling” play the sagely man of morals Confucius? It’s like a national face lift. Well, I’ll see in on DVD anyways…

The feelings of the Chinese have been hurt once again, but this time, they demand an apology.

Five days ago three Chinese filmmakers withdrew their entries into the Melbourne International Film Festival, most prominently was Jia Zhangke (the World, Platform), Tang Xiaobai (aka Emily Tang), and Zhao Liang (a rising documentarian). The film behind the hurt feelings and the withdraws is “Ten Conditions of Love,” by Melbourne film-maker Jeff Daniels, it is a documentary, filmed over seven years, that tells of Rebiya Kadeer’s relationship with her activist husband Sidik Rouzi and the impact her campaigning had on her 11 children. Rebiya Kadeer is a Uigyher activist and advocate who has been demonized by Chinese media as the driving force behind the recent riots in Xinjiang. For readers who can’t make out the Chinese animosity towards her, we could compare her role in China to that of Osama bin Laden in the US.

Many Jia Zhangke fans overseas were shocked and dissapointed that he would make such a polical decision, but according to this writer’s gossip channels, the film-making community in Beijing seems overwhelmingly convinced that the decision was made from coercion. Considering Jia Zhangke is filming his first attempt at a blockbuster hit, a kung fu film, can we really doubt the motivation behind his withdraw from the MIFF? The nationalist fervor surrounding the issue seems to guarantee his investors would demand his withdraw.

Demonstrating the harmonious feelings of all Chinese, the first paragraph of the China Daily report reads as follows: “Chinese directors Jia Zhangke and Tang Xiaobai say they have quit the biggest film festival in Australia because of personal beliefs - - not because of any pressure from the Chinese government.” (Source China Daily) Tang Xiaobai was quoted elsewhere saying that she was practicing “self-restraint” by pulling out from MIFF; Zhao Liang, whose entry was a documentary film on petitioners who come to Beijing to voice their grievances to the deaf ears of central government, has stayed relatively silent on the issue. His film Petition, already touches on sensitive issue in Beijing, perhaps its easy to understand why he remains silent.

Everyone is feeling the pressure these days: according to news sources, director of MIFF Richard Moore received a phone call from the Melbourne-based Chinese consulate last week.

“She told me that she was ringing to urge me to withdraw the particular film (more…)

Chinese independent cinema confronts a long list of unique problems, lack of funding, intolerance for many issues deemed sensitive on the mainland, lack of distribution channels and theatres, and a discombobulated audience. At lastm consider these last two problems on the way to being solved, the opening of the “Chinese Independent Film Archive” at the Iberia Center for Contemporary Art has provided venue, and enthusiastically audiences pack into their screenings.

The establishment of the CIFA was celebrated on March 29th, with the opening of the poster exhibition “What Has Happened Here? / 这里发生了什么？” and a film festival that will run through April 19th.

There are screenings from film submissions of the Chinese Independent Film Invitational, featuring both young and established directors from across China, a DV Films retrospective that that brings classic films from Chinese directors to the screen, and international selections from Korea, Malaysia and Israel, among others.

Most films are subtitled in English, and there is a “film subtitling machine” reminiscent of Peking Opera performances at the Chang’an Theatre.  Admission is free, seating on first come basis (you are recommended to come early).

A download a complete schedule and read more about the films here

总监制：田壮壮
编导： 杨蕊
摄影：刘帆 邓旭 韩琰
类型：人文类纪录片
片长：91分钟
拍摄时间：2004年-2005年
出品：北京青年电影制片厂
出品时间：2006年4月

王丹华现在担任artforum.com.cn翻译，也是独立杂志的投稿人，尤其对电影、纪录片方面感兴趣。

山的那一边 －－纪录片《毕摩纪》

文／王丹华


<<毕摩纪>>是一部关于彝族宗教习俗的高清纪录片，杨蕊作品。片中，导演带我们走进大凉山深处,一个如梦境的地方,以细腻精致的画面,记录了彝族美姑毕摩们的生活现状，讲述了隐藏在历史深处的故事.客观地展现了彝族部落不同时期,不同年龄，不同分支的毕摩们的生存状态.
毕摩,其实就是彝族的宗教神职人员,他们以念诵经文的形式协调人与神灵的关系。在日常生活中，主要主持祭祀,占卜的活动,安灵送灵，采药医病，对彝族人们的精神生活有着极为重要的影响,是彝族精神信仰的代表,也是彝族文化的传播者与继承者.传承下来的万卷古典经文,是这个古老民族的丰富的记忆宝库.随着政策的开放与传统文化的复兴，今日，依然有很多毕摩，活跃在彝人聚居的地区。他们举行各种宗教仪式，与人们的生活密不可分，在当地享有较高的地位，受族人尊敬。虽然汉族文化以及现代化在一点点渗透，社会大变革屡屡发生，但彝族的宗教信仰，仍艰难而顽强地保存下来，至今还影响规范着人们的生活。

跟随镜头，我们来到凉山深处，一个似乎被遗忘的角落。那偶然停靠的汽车，车下走来的游子,通往远方的路,提示着此处与外界的丁点儿关联. 而时光又仿佛在此停止,生老病死不经意地提醒着我们岁月的流淌. 然而这里似乎还是安静依然,安静得近乎无动于衷.人们淡淡地过着日子,与命运融为一体，劳动，婚嫁,选举，送葬,作法, 聊天,行走，歇息，一切正在发生着又发生过了.影片伊始，远行的游子—一个歌者归来，走向田间静坐的老毕摩。在归去来的一派田园气息之中，毕摩们的生活，就此徐徐展开。人们平静地讲述着自己的生活，讲述着毕摩的往昔与今天，近到衣食住行婚姻情感，远到亘古不变的传说。导演就默默地退到摄影机后面， (more…)

——纪录片《秉爱》小记文／王丹华

上个世纪，某个伟人被大自然的奇伟瑰丽所震撼， 写下“更立西江石壁，截断巫山云雨”的激扬文字。半个世纪后，这项“当惊世界殊”的工程已开天辟地般启动，它势必载入史册，为人类征服自然写下又一恢弘篇章。历史的话语是由伟人写下的，寥寥几笔，光荣的旗帜迎向他们；而历史的生命，却是由无数如蝼蚁般的小人物创造的，他们何时来，何时走，在哪里生，在哪里逝，如何生，又如何去，历史是不会在意的。在人们大唱今日中华梦圆的赞歌时，谁又会记得高峡上平湖畔那些个为生存而挣扎着的卑微生命呢？

张秉爱，近几年来银幕上最动人的女性之一。她不是编剧和演员塑造出来的虚构人物，她就是生活在三峡边活生生的一个女人，是导演冯艳镜头下纪录的一个平凡普通的乡村女性。

这部纪录片的时间跨度为七年。七年的时光，也让我们看到了岁月对一个女性毫不留情的磨砺。几年前，她还是梳着两个小辫子、留着齐留海的清涩模样，眉眼低垂，话也不太多，一个小小的少妇。那绑在小辫子上的红头绳，依然看出未泯的少女心思。倏忽一过的七年后，出现在镜头前的秉爱，已是一个在田间劳作的中年妇女形象，身上散发着蓬勃的泥土气，粗壮皮实，操持着里里外外的一切。丈夫身体弱，一双儿女要念书，房屋即将要拆迁，原本辛苦的生活即将遭遇更多的困难。作为家庭支柱的她，却从没放弃对幸福生活的追求以及对家人真挚的爱。 她勤劳，坚韧，善良，在困境中奋力挣扎，紧握美好的希望不放，以自己的双手去为家人创造着美好的生活。

她的婚姻，没有爱情基础。丈夫身体很弱，村里人也笑话她跟了这么一个男人。但是嫁过去之后，她安安分分地过日子，承担了家里的大部分农活。在田里种柑橘，盘算着收购的价钱，土地就是她的天；雨天的屋檐下给孩子缝补鞋子，嗔怪女儿的学校收那么多学费；榨了辣椒酱，装到小瓶里，拿着仅有的几百块给儿子送去，鼓励孩子要充满信心好好念书，不要因为移民而失去希望；为了自己的生活，和拆迁办的人据理力争，不依不饶。在大江边，她说过一番话。大意是，别人嘲笑我找了个没用的男人，但是我却铁定心，一定要过上好日子，把我丈夫和孩子绑在一块，给他们一个幸福的家。她淳朴的话语，坚定的面孔，直面生活的勇气，令人产生由衷的敬佩之情。画面上，穿着带补丁的绿色衬衫走在山路上的秉爱，仿佛一株蓬勃生长的玉米。腰杆挺立，枝叶翠绿硬实，任风吹雨打，在收获的季节里结出饱满的果实，散发出生命金灿灿的光芒。

世界上，有很多人生活得比我们想像得要艰难许多，但他们也比我们想像得，要坚强勇敢得多。这部纪录片打动我的，正是它细腻的细节和充满生命鲜活力的人物。感谢那些认真坚持着纪录片的朋友们和作品中的平凡而了不起的人物，他们给了我生活的力量，宽容的心境，不放弃的信念。