Talking about small towns｜Li Jingyu: Only by returning to one’s roots can one feel safe
2024-08-24
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Small towns are an important aesthetic perspective in image creation. They represent a piece of heaven and earth in space and a period of time in time. The expression of small towns has always been an endless artistic tradition of Chinese films, full of infinite possibilities. The 2024 Shanhai Project is themed "Return to Small Towns" and aims to encourage young creators to use contemporary small towns as coordinates to explore more possibilities for local expression.
In mid-July, the top 20 young directors of the 2024 Shanhai Project gathered in Tanbu Town, Huadu District, Guangzhou, and started a residency in the ancient village of Longtou, which has a history of more than 700 years, and its surroundings to create short films, using the camera to discover and interpret the temperament of the town in their minds. In just one day, the young directors "traveled around the town" alone, and their creativity was also developed and challenged to the extreme.
This issue specially invites Li Jingyu, one of the top 20 young directors of the 2024 Shanhai Project, to talk about the town around topics such as small town life, small town images, and resident creation experiences, forming an oral article, which has been reviewed by the interviewee before publication.
Li Jingyu was born and raised in Guangzhou in 1996. Since college, he has been committed to local creation in Guangdong and actively developed scripts for Cantonese and Hakka dialect films. His films mostly show the emotional life of urban residents and the changes of Guangzhou city in the times. His personal films have been selected and won awards in many festivals and exhibitions such as 86358 Jiajiazhuang Short Film Week, World Nomadic Short Film Exhibition, Shenzhen Youth Film Festival, Wuhan Image Art Center, etc.
To the sea where fishermen live
I was born and raised in Guangzhou, and my ancestral home is in Yunfu. I didn't have much contact with small towns when I was growing up. After the college entrance examination, my family returned to Yunfu. When I went back to my hometown to visit my family, I had contact with the small town, so I was facing a strange town. The folks said that my roots are in Yunfu, but I think my roots are in Guangzhou, because here, I feel safe and intimate.
The town has its significance in both space and time. In terms of space, I have to go back to my hometown every year to reunite with my parents; in terms of time, the town may disappear with the development of the times, or be transformed into a part of the city, but the time it represents will remain forever.
Li Jingyu was shortlisted for the 2024 Shanhai Project's top 20 projects. Concept poster of "Feng Ping Wandering"
From 2017 to 2019, I conducted research on the living habits and customs of the Tanka people in Huangpu Ancient Port in Guangzhou. When they were leaving Huangpu Ancient Port in 2019 and bidding farewell to centuries of fisherman life, I felt that this was a historic moment. The outlook on life, lifestyle, and even the form of marriage of people on the sea and people on land are very different. An important plot in the story I submitted is the wedding at sea, which is a marriage between two ships. This lifestyle, which is completely different from that of people on land, opened my eyes. We have been telling stories about the land, but in fact, the sea also has its own civilization, so returning to the town can be returning to the town of the Tanka people and returning to the sea where they once lived.
The resident creation encountered many possibilities
The Shanhai Project is a rare short film support program in China. Those selected will be given support funds, and a relatively clear shooting period will be set. Many people may not like to complete the work within a certain period of time, and they think this is a kind of harm, but for me this cycle is more rhythmic.
When doing resident creation in the mountain and sea training camp, accidents are quite important. The story I submitted takes place at sea, and it is difficult to shoot a pilot film in a small town on land. I first wandered around Longtou Ancient Village and saw an old man singing K in front of the ancestral hall square. He was confident and calm, and his voice had the charm of time. I wanted to find something about the town through him. After discussing with the old man, it was decided to shoot him returning to the ancestral hall to sing K and look back on the past years. But before the shooting, an accident happened. Due to weather reasons, the old man was worried about getting the KTV equipment wet and was unwilling to participate in the shooting. This change made me not know what to shoot.
Later, I accidentally found a man carving patterns on watermelons. After chatting with him for a while, I learned that he was a carpenter. At first, I didn't plan to take a photo of him, but then I found that he had carved the words "Happy Birthday" on the watermelon, which suddenly moved me. I decided to take a photo of him returning to the town to offer birthday wishes to this place.
Li Jingyu's residency short film "Big Watermelon! Big Watermelon!"
The market needs good narratives
As we enter the Internet age, everyone has a lot of opportunities to watch movies, forming a relatively complete movie viewing system, which also makes some young filmmakers tend to create in a fan-like way. Some creators have not yet disenchanted movies and tend to worship masters. For example, after directors such as Jia Zhangke and Wei Shujun have made an impact, they will imitate them. This phenomenon is closely related to the fact that we are in different eras from the older generation of creators.
Young creators also show excessive emotions when making movies. They may still lack real life experience, but they feel that they must express something through movies, and in the end, they just shoot for the sake of shooting. The market still needs good narratives. The story is only part of the narrative. The narrative also includes photography, art, director, screenwriter, characters, emotions, etc.
Li Jingyu recommends small town movies and books
Movie
"Far Away" by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
"Four Times" by Michelangelo Franmartino
The Beehive Ghost by Victor Ellis
Magnetic Resonance - Christian Mungiu
Certain Women by Kelly Leichhardt
books
"Back Home" Didier Heribon
A Funeral in a Dream and Twelve Strange Tales by Gabriel García Márquez
Satantango by Laszlo Krasnohorkai
Shen Congwen's Autobiography
