From the "Meet the Filmmakers" series held in Feburary 2010 at the Apple Store in Sanlitun, Beijing. The series, co-presented by the Apple Store and dGenerate Films, is an ongoing series to showcase Chinas newest filmmakers powered by digital technology.
Cui Zien is a director, film scholar, screenwriter, and novelist based in Beijing. He is an associate professor at the Beijing Film Academy. Cui Zien is a premiere avant-garde digital filmmaker in China. He has published nine novels in China and Hong Kong, and he is also the author of books on criticism and theory, as well as a columnist for magazines.
Interview conducted by Jane Zheng. Videography by Michael Cheng. English transcription by Yuqian Yan.
JZ: As we know, being a director is only one of your different roles. You are also a scholar, a novelist, and an activist. In the past several years, you became quite popular in the media. So my first question is, how you see your role as a director?
CZE: I have different areas of focus in different periods. I first spent ten years focusing on my research, and the next ten years writing novels. In the past ten years, Ive been working on images as a way to express myself.
JZ: So shall we say that being a director has become an important part of your life?
CZE: Kind of. But I see myself more as an organizer than a director. Forming a film crew is almost like having a party with my friends. My role is to gather people for a big twenty-day party, like a party host. Everyone brings cheese and wine. Of course in our party they bring a DV Camera, tapes and costumes.
JZ: That sounds interesting. As an independent filmmaker, Im sure youve come across all sorts of difficulties, such as lack of inspiration or funding. How do you manage to turn filmmaking into a big party?
CZE: As long as you have a clear idea about what kind of film you want to make and what thoughts you hope to express, and you are able to present it to others, like holding an empty basket, God will fill your basket with pies quickly. Of course the precondition is that this has to be an empty basket without any concern for profit or other things.
JZ: So you can achieve your goal with a strong will and pure motivation.
CZE: For filmmakers who make all sorts of films, if you are running out of ideas or inspiration, you only need to slightly change your direction. For instance, if youve made too much avant-guard stuff, you can start to make narrative-based films. If you feel that you cant write an innovative story, maybe you can try to document real life. This is also my own trajectory, from the so-called avant-garde and experimental, to narrative films, and then documentary. My works cover all these different fields.
JZ: Do you have any suggestion for those who want to become an independent filmmaker on how to manage the equipment and the film crew?
CZE: My suggestion would be to go for whatever is the most convenient and easiest to use. Many film students have this film complex and always hope to shoot on film, seeing it as the highest level of filmmaking. I always want to subvert this concept. I embraced DV as soon as it appeared in China. I even claimed that the age of film would be over with the coming of DV, and I was criticized by many people in my circle.
JZ: When was that?
CZE: 2001, when the home video camera appeared in China.
JZ: How did you start to use the DV Camera?
CZE: I didnt like shooting on film, so when there was an alternative, I picked it up quite naturally. It doesnt require any preparation; you can just start right away.
JZ: Can you share with us any interesting story or particular feeling you had when you started to use the DV camera?
CZE: When we just started, we thought it was cool to use big cameras, the bigger the better. My cinematographer picked up the biggest one. I thought it was too big, but since we were having a party, I just let him choose whatever he liked. One scene was shot in an actors apartment. However, the apartment was too small for the camera movement we designed, and we used hand-held camera instead. We had to adjust our idea to the actual shooting conditions.
JZ: From 2001, when you started to use DV, to 2010, digital technology has advanced quite dramatically. Do you think youve kept yourself updated with the most recent technological developments?
CZE: In some ways I do. My camera size gets smaller and smaller. But I also deliberately went against the trend. Now even small cameras have HD format, but I still use the most common DV format for my films, because I want to preserve the natural and rough quality of DV camera, which better presents the scene of Chinas development today. I want to show the dust of Beijing Station, not a perfect visual experience made up with artificial light. So I still havent tried HD yet.
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Meet the Filmmakers: Cui Zi'en Part 2 of 4by alsolikelife135 views
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