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Notable for winning the Venice Film Festival's top award, the Golden Lion, Chinese director Jia Zhangke is regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema. His new film, Mountains May Depart, is centered on the theme of immigration. Before the film comes to Chinese cinemas, our reporter Doris Wang spoke to Jia Zhangke about his films and his thoughts on being a filmmaker.
Mountains May Depart is the eighth and latest feature film by the critically acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhangke. British newspaper The Guardian has called it "a mysterious and in its way staggeringly ambitious piece of work from a film-maker whose creativity is evolving before our eyes."
Taking place in the 1990s, the present and in Australia in the year 2025, the film explores the complications of human relationships and the hot-button issue of immigration.
According to the director, the movie is actually an exploration of how our lives have changed as a result of technological development.
"It reflects how new values, new technology, rapid economic development affects our emotions. For example, as the pace of our life quickens, we spend less time with our loved ones. This is something worth thinking about. In the movie, there's scene in which the mother takes the son to Shanghai and the son asks why can't they take the bullet train or the plane? The mother says the train is slower so I could spend more time with you. This shows that maybe we should be looking to the past rather than be pushed by the torrents of society."
Mountains May Depart competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and was selected to be shown in the Special Presentations section of this year's Toronto International Film Festival.
However, it's not the only film of Jia Zhangke's that has gained international recognition.
In 2006, his film 'Still Life' won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at that year's Venice Film Festival. Set in a city upstream of the massive Three Gorges Dam, the story follows two people searching for their spouses.
So what was the inspiration behind the story?
"In 2006, I ventured into the Three Gorges region for the first time. The construction of the dam has been going on for years. When I arrived at the site, I saw the scenes of migration, demolition and construction. I was touched by the unyielding tenacity of the people."
The documentary-like movie is based on Jia's observation of the human tenacity.
Like many of Jia's works, Still Life has ties to the director's home province. The main character in the movie is a coal-miner from Shanxi, in central China. In Mountains May Depart, the first part of the film takes place in Jia's hometown of Fengyang. According to him, growing up in the small town has given him a good platform from which to view China.
"It allowed me to understand urban culture. At the same time, I can observe people from the grassroots and their living situations. This played an important role in developing my emotional world. I feel that only when we have returned home can we learn how far we have traveled, how long we have left home. In Mountains May Depart, my hometown represents the realization of cultural identity."
In addition to cultural identity, language and dialects also play an important role in Jia's new movie. The movie starts with the characters speaking the local Shanxi dialect, then moves on to Mandarin, and finally to English in scenes which take place in Australia. According to Jia Zhangke, local dialects add something special to his movies.
"The dialects in Shanxi are very ancient. Some came from the Han Dynasty. Dialects make movies more vivid. It will enable those who understand the dialect to better interpret the meaning of life and also see their life from a different perspective. Shanxi is a province that has deep-rooted Chinese traditions including local opera and literature. All this has had an impact on my growth."
Mountains May Depart opens in theatres across China on October 30 and Jia Zhangke is already working on his next film. His new film is going to be a departure to his usual artistic and documentary-like style. It will be a martial arts film. Jia says becoming a good director means sometimes stepping outside your comfort zone. Here's his take on what makes a good film.
"Film is an art that deals with human relationships and mutual understanding. In the process, sincerity of human emotions is very important. Also, the movie needs to have an insight into human nature and society. In addition, there needs to be exploration and new discoveries of movies as a medium and language."
According to Jia Zhangke, there is no difference between a commercial film and an artistic film in his mind and he is looking forward to exploring new film genres in the future.
For Studio +, I'm Doris Wang.
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