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the smoke of war was rolling, but the music never stopped. the documentary film "classmates" focuses on the moving stories of teachers and students in guangdong during the anti-japanese war. it has aroused heated discussions in the film industry, the history community, the education community and chinese people at home and abroad since its release more than two months ago. with great expectations, the film's beijing premiere was held at the phoenix international communication center in beijing on september 5.

a group photo of some of the guests attending the screening.

li qi, executive vice president and chief operating officer of phoenix satellite tv, delivered a speech at the screening ceremony. zhang hong, member of the national committee of the chinese people's political consultative conference, former member of the party leadership group and secretary of the secretariat of the china federation of literary and art circles, former secretary of the party leadership group of the china film association and vice chairman of the resident committee, rao shuguang, former secretary general of the china film association and president of the chinese film critics society, jin ping, a national first-class actor, zou ming, editor-in-chief of phoenix.com, huang ruimin, director of the office of education development and alumni affairs of sun yat-sen university and secretary general of the alumni association, chen pingyuan, president of the beijing alumni association of sun yat-sen university, and chen xiaochuan, former editor-in-chief of china youth daily, attended the screening. in the post-screening session, huang haibo, the chief producer of classmates, deputy director of the chinese channel and director of the film channel of phoenix satellite tv, lao zai, a famous musician and music director of classmates, qu hongbo, producer of classmates, and gu lei, project planner and screenwriter of classmates, and other main creative teams of the film had a warm exchange and interaction with the guests.

the greatest learning is for the country and the people. during the anti-japanese war, many outstanding students and scholars shone like stars in the flames of war. at that time, tsinghua university, peking university, nankai university and other universities in northern china moved south and established southwest associated university in kunming. in southern guangdong, a group of middle and higher education institutions in south china, represented by national sun yat-sen university and private lingnan university, moved to northern guangdong and insisted on running schools under extremely difficult conditions. although the two regions are different and the deployment is different, the teachers and students in the north and south have the same deep feelings for their country. they have passed on the fire of civilization to the land of china while working hard to make it stronger, and have contributed important research results that have attracted attention, writing a rich and colorful chapter in the history of modern education in china.

in order to better explore this epic history of northern guangdong, the publicity department of the guangzhou municipal committee of the communist party of china, phoenix satellite tv film channel, the publicity department of the shaoguan municipal committee of the communist party of china, the guangdong provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology, shaoguan university, guangdong provincial archives, guangdong provincial forestry bureau, guangzhou archives, the publicity department of the yunfu municipal committee of the communist party of china, guangdong central south iron and steel co., ltd. and other units carefully planned and jointly produced the documentary film "classmates", which shows the academic research process of teachers and students from more than 40 secondary and higher education institutions in northern guangdong during the war of resistance against japanese aggression.

the film took four years to prepare from 2020 to its release in june 2024. it is understood that the research and filming team not only had to search for historical materials, but also visited the school site in the past, trying to repair and rescue the old school site during the anti-japanese war. they also conducted on-site interviews with the eyewitnesses or their families, followed their current living conditions, and even went overseas to interview their ancestors and descendants, obtaining a lot of precious first-hand information. after concerted efforts from many parties, the main creative team created a script based on the latest research results and precious historical materials, and used docudrama (re-enactment) to reproduce the touching stories of the year with professional actors, and carefully polished a documentary film full of breath, emotion, wisdom and enlightenment.

li qi, executive vice president and chief operating officer of phoenix satellite television

before the film officially started, li qi, executive vice president and chief operating officer of phoenix satellite television group, gave a speech on stage, sharing the original intention of phoenix satellite television to produce this documentary film. according to li qi, this is the first film produced by phoenix satellite television film channel, and from the establishment of the project, promotion to the final film, it is permeated with the patriotism and the creative attitude of phoenix people who strive for excellence. in a series of rigorous excavation, verification and filming processes, the main creative team has also completed a spiritual baptism.

it is reported that the film adopts a regional distribution model. starting from the guangdong-hong kong-macao greater bay area in june, it has held premieres and screenings in many cities across the country, including hong kong, guangzhou, shenzhen, shaoguan, zhaoqing, yangjiang, foshan, meizhou, shanghai, nanjing, chengdu, wuhan, etc., covering sun yat-sen university alumni associations in many places and secondary and higher education institutions such as jinan university, shaoguan university, and chengdu no. 7 middle school. government agencies, enterprises and institutions such as the guangzhou association of intellectuals, shaoguan center for disease control and prevention, shaoguan municipal party committee organization department party branch, fengdu north community party committee, and guangzhou zhongtong have also organized employees/students to watch the film in private screenings. the film has also attracted the attention of the sun yat-sen university beijing alumni association, which organized private screenings as a way to explore and pay tribute to the spirit of the alma mater and the style of scholars.

the movie "classmates" is not only an affectionate look back at the past years, but also a vivid interpretation of the spiritual inheritance and revolutionary sentiments of the education predecessors. during the 86-minute movie, the audience was immersed in that magnificent history and was deeply moved by the magnificent chapters in the film about teachers and students joining the army and fighting the national crisis together.

zhang hong, member of the national committee of the chinese people's political consultative conference, former member of the party leadership group and secretary of the secretariat of the china federation of literary and art circles, and former secretary of the party leadership group and standing vice chairman of the china film association, shared his feelings about watching the movie.

zhang hong, member of the national committee of the chinese people's political consultative conference, former member of the party leadership group and secretary of the secretariat of the china federation of literary and art circles, former secretary of the party leadership group and vice chairman of the china film association, expressed four opinions. first, the film impressed him deeply. in that era, those professors, students, intellectuals, including local farmers, moved him with their endless spirit of struggle for the country and the people. a country and a nation cannot lack this spirit of struggle. this film plays an important role in the country, the people, and especially the young students today. it inspires their fighting spirit and inspires their spirit, will and quality to rush forward, think about things, plan things, and do things. secondly, zhang hong believes that the film "classmates" has extremely important historical materials and historical value. the study of chinese education, the republic of china, and especially the education during the anti-japanese war are important parts of our education. many celebrities have emerged in the history of lingnan education reflected in the film, including academicians, agricultural experts, music experts, poets, etc. many people have never heard of them in the past. they are shining stars in the history of chinese education and the history of the chinese nation. this is an important historical value. the value of these historical materials should not only exist in history. we should let these historical materials come out of books and let the dead come alive, so as to inspire our future path. third, this film has extremely unique aesthetic value and aesthetic style. documentary is difficult to shoot. do you need narration? do you need to recreate the scene? do you want historical pictures or current photos? do you want natural scenery or close-ups of the past? these are all difficult to balance. this film combines various historical photos, historical videos and current photos and videos. when recreating the scene, it is not verbose, which makes people feel aftertaste of historical pictures and historical stories. after watching it, i was very inspired. if documentaries are shot like this, it will be very attractive, with a strong sense of picture, story and history. fourth, zhang hong thinks that the music of this movie is great, and the sense of substitution at the beginning is particularly good. "movie music is storytelling music." every time a plot appears, the music quietly matches the picture to tell the story when it should be quiet; when the music slowly rises, it brings people's emotions to the history and story of the year. there is one section in particular where aesthetics and film music are combined very well. the shot at dusk is particularly beautiful, accompanied by lyrical music. it sounds poetic, picturesque and melodious. the film music has made a great contribution to this film.

rao shuguang, former secretary-general of the china film association and president of the chinese film critics society, spoke highly of the film.

rao shuguang, former secretary-general of the china film association and president of the china film critics society, expressed his respect to the film's creative team, believing that the creative team had done "immeasurable good deeds" by collecting, excavating and sorting out a large amount of relevant historical materials to shoot the documentary film "classmates". president rao specifically pointed out that the film used rare historical images and pictures to combine scene reconstruction, voice-over and narration to form an organic "expressive whole", which made the audience happy to accept it; the film music was also infectious, with a sense of sacredness and religion. president rao expressed his hope that more documentary filmmakers would be able to collect historical materials in depth and extensively, restore history, and shoot more such documentary films with warmth, depth and breadth.

chen pingyuan, professor of peking university and president of the beijing alumni association of sun yat-sen university

chen pingyuan, professor at peking university and president of the beijing alumni association of sun yat-sen university, said that he had studied the history of many schools during the war of resistance against japanese aggression, but there was not much historical information about south china's colleges and universities in northern guangdong. therefore, he watched the film with the intention of filling the gap in this history. the presentation of that history, characters, and the style of that generation requires the cooperation of historians and writers. the film also put a lot of effort into combining the situational presentation with the documentary format.

zou ming, editor-in-chief of phoenix.com

chen xiaochuan, former editor-in-chief of china youth daily

during the interactive session with the main creators, phoenix news editor-in-chief zou ming said, "the film moved me deeply and i even shed tears at some points. the film brought us back to our original aspirations: why do we study? it is also a positive encouragement for today's young people." chen xiaochuan, former editor-in-chief of china youth daily, believes that the film expresses the four words "reading is sacred."

the famous musician and music director of "classmates" laozai shared his viewing experience on the spot.

lao zai, the music director of "classmates", talked about his first viewing experience at the scene. he said he was shocked. he had worked and lived in guangzhou for 16 years and had never heard the story told in this film. he thought it was very touching, and how to tell this story well with music was his biggest responsibility. what moved him most was that ma sicong completed the "violin concerto in f major" under such a difficult environment. this is a very remarkable achievement, and it can also motivate himself to overcome difficulties in music creation.

later, lao zai further shared the story behind the creation of the music for classmates in an interview with phoenix entertainment. he said that in the process of composing music for the film, the most unforgettable thing was that the production cycle was relatively long and many drafts were changed, so the setting of the music needed to be started all over again. the difficulty in creation lies in the problem of grasping. lao zai said, "one is how to express that era, and the other is how to use a musical language that is easier for more people to accept to express it. this is a question of balance. in addition, there must be persistence in artistry." in his opinion, the difference between composing music for documentary films and commercial films is that documentary films require restraint, rationality, reason, and forbearance, while commercial films require exaggeration and rendering.

talking about the reason why he took on this project, he said that it was because he and gu lei, the planner and screenwriter, had been friends for decades. when he received this job, he did not think much about it. he just thought it was a documentary, but he did not expect it to be such a documentary. "such a good subject, we should let more people know this period of history, and know how our predecessors did not forget their original aspirations and insisted on their ideals for chinese education in such a war-torn era. no matter how hard it was, they were still full of hope for the future, so that everyone would work hard to learn."

in his opinion, "classmates" has a strong practical significance. "how everyone views this era, how the pursuits of people of that era, the emphasis on education, and the understanding of reading have continued to the present. this is also a very important element for the chinese nation to inherit and continue its culture for thousands of years."

group photo of some guests: huang haibo (first from left), executive producer of classmates; huang ruimin (second from left), director of the office of education development and alumni affairs of sun yat-sen university and secretary-general of the alumni association; gu lei (second from right), planner and screenwriter of classmates; and lao zai (first from right), a famous musician and music director of classmates.

according to the film company, the film will continue to meet the audience in the form of private screenings in different cities. audiences who are interested in it can pay close attention to relevant information. at the same time, major companies, schools, and institutions are welcome to organize private screenings to recall the passionate perseverance in the war and find the traceability marks related to their alma mater.