(W.E.Talk) Chen Kaige: How can international film festival truly be international'?(3)

CNS: Your film The Volunteers: Bloody Peace (hereinafter referred to as The Volunteers) has been scheduled for release during China's National Day holiday. Could you share the motivation behind the trilogy?

Chen Kaige: I didn't set out to make The Volunteers as a lesson for anyone. History stands on its own. What I wanted to explore was: why did that generation make such extraordinary sacrifices? Why did this happen just as New China was being founded? Why did so many soldiers give their lives?

On September 12, as the Golden Panda Awards opened, a Y-20 aircraft of the Chinese Air Force returned the remains of volunteer martyrs from Incheon, South Korea. Why do we still remember them so deeply? That is the question the trilogy seeks to answer.

Of course, the answers come through cinema—through story, through character. If I hadn't thought it important, I wouldn't have spent five years making it.

The trilogy contains over 7,700 special-effects shots—an astonishing number. I personally wrote hundreds of thousands of words in notes, storyboards, and scripts. Some of my drafts were recently displayed at the film museum.

When making each of The Volunteers, I never thought about whether today's young people knew the history, nor did I intend to lecture anyone. I simply wanted to show the real circumstances of a war fought more than70 years ago.

In the end, my greatest hope is that the Golden Panda Awards continue to grow into a global film and television event. The word "event" is precise here. I want to see creators from around the world gather in Chengdu, to take part in such a celebration. "Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?"(End)

Profile

Chen Kaige is a Director, Screenwriter, a key figure of China's "Fifth Generation Directors". He has been honour with the Huabiao Film Awards for Best Director, GoldenRooster Awards for Best Director. His works have received the GoldenRooster Awards for Best Film and Special Jury Prize, and the Huabiao Film

Awards for Outstanding Feature Film.His film Yellow Earth is widely regarded as a groundbreaking work of China's New Cinema movement. Farewell My Concubine was awarded the Palme d'Oat the Cannes Film Festival and earned a nomination for the AcademyAwards'Best International Feature Film.

Chen Kaige's notable works, including Yellow Earth, Farewell My Concubine.The Emperor and the Assassin, Forever Enthralled, Legend of the Demon Cat, The Volunteers: To the War and The Battle at Lake Changjin series.