U.S. Premiere of Youth | Feng Xiaogang, Yan Geling

well thank you all for again for being here such a honor to have you all on stage I wanted to start at the beginning I guess and and ask the director phone you started out in as an art director in a military art troupe like this I was curious if you had had intentions or plans to make this part of your life a film at some point or if it was Golding's novel that sparked the awareness or the interest in making this film or telling this portion of your life on screen I actually wanted to make this movie for many years as soon as I became a director I had the thought of making a movie that would tell the story of what I had been through but it was a long time before I found the right story we thought a trajectory without yet yes is a Pilate Emilio Sheila was some higher game for take a Korean yes what I knew therefore take a canoe Yamaha Shirley hi olli I'm not even calling for tertiary personal for world co- Rarawa 39:34 titanium so about three or four years ago I bumped into young colleague and we both had this shared experience we both been through that time together she was a dancer in the troupe back back at that same time so we began to talk about it and she said that she would like to write a script for me but then I would have to wait she had two other scripts to write first and then so I waited but she said she would first have to write the book so she wrote the book and then and then she wrote the script turning to Ling I wanted to that's curious I want to talk a little bit about the process of adaptation but when you after you had this discussion this conversation did you so you wanted you felt it should be a novel first and then you would adapt that to the script or and why did you feel this story need to be told novelistic Li first and then adapted to the screen I treated any material seriously I always want to write it into a novel because I can examine the characters from within to me and all these in my memory so I want to right them fully it's only can be done this is a question for both of you but I guess I'll start with Colleen what was the process of adaptation like how did you work together I know you've both written original screenplays you both adapted other people's material what was the adaptation process like and how much involved was director flowing in the adaptation process or how much did you need to leave him out of it until you finish what you did was your process of working together in this as the screenplay came together the book was so rich and so full of characters and story and material that it was hard to make it fit into the format of a film where time is limited this film is 2 hours and 15 minutes and so obviously choices needed to be made and these days audiences are so busy time is limited so to be able to get them to spend two hours in one room watching your movie is quite an achievement the mud show Florida gaddafi a heartful tour for OCD and how to negotiate for John Kotaro young ha ha ha ah changpu year tonight say ho detto porcelain her gestures for the country for the poor Thomas ACON conduct a quantity in the Canadian economy or four-year company or culture by a young my Yamashita in one example one analogy or metaphor would be that a novel is like a tree or it grows from a small tree into a big tree and it sprouts leaves and then fruit grows on the tree and the experience of reading a book can be like seeing it in such detail that you even see the the barren limbs of the tree with no leaves on it or the bugs on the bark of the tree or the fruit that is lying rotten on the ground but with a film it needs to be just one clean tree you don't even have time for the leaves much less the fruit but you also have to deliver the fruit so you could in the convert to the other say ocean so cooling would take the you know just made it shorter and wrote a script and had to get rid of so much and then talk about the adaptation process the director wouldn't need to make her cut even more and more killing how was that process for you that parry Mack you just mentioned how important and special this time was for you personally you know how important these characters were to you how did you come to make those cuts in to shape it into the screenplay when you're adapting your own work I must imagine it must be something of a challenge to constantly have to cut away and cut away as we've been talking about so what was your what was your approach in the in the adaptation process well I actually I'm anything that can be told by words by lines I will not describe looks looks images can tell meaning and all these voice-over is actually just something that is not really so I think that I don't know I just have instinct I just have with God's feelings I you know to talk about techniques I don't know and I just follow my intuition during the process did you and director feeling have any disagreements about or maybe just difference of opinions about what memories to include or what stories to tell from his troupe versus your troupe and how maybe you experienced those two that moment in time and in that experience differently are there any of his memories in the film that you decided to include or are there any of your memories that he you know yeah before we started to adapt to this script from the novel and director also contributed the some of his experiences so I tried to combine because you know mail you know man's point of view or so I think it's if you want to have male audience take a Korean coordinate Leandra so we all go shopping hadoo from that the two main characters shopping and the hyung were the central characters that were really part of callings memory and to to convey those characters was the main was the most important thing there what is here one and harden it some she twenty children turn image come she she's awfully drawn over your shoe de jamón so Collider for two and a new campaign what your tongue hurts hot on those they take a shirt three thoughts he's always I'm fighting a game yeah on the other hand what he remembers was the the overall effect of the group of kids together during the summer wearing their army uniforms maybe with wet hair and carrying the basin through the yard and now in that moment the entire yard was fragrant and you could just you could just smell the beauty and that's what he remembers speaking of the two main characters the Fung and being he lay flowing as a very he's compared to this other leaf on character well he's this heroic legendary figure from the People's Liberation Army and he's compared to him he's the living version of him but Xi Jinping there is no other corollary for her in the sort of this heroic romantic PLA tradition I wonder first if you could both talk about the significance of this figure this heroic military figure for the period and then how that figure comes to shape our understanding of Leo fing the stoolie Fung the character but then it was there a female equivalent in in this heroic sort of romantic military history that Joe King represents or was she in some way created as a kind of counterpart to that figure a real-life counterpart to that figure I'm wondering how he how these things been had were balanced well that you know Leo Fong represents the heroes the back thing in our youth is men of no importance and the greatness derived out of this non importance so it's a it he he would you know so this this is what we really in the army there's no war and actually for all these girls and anything any emergency he has to take care of he has no real you know just something like a star on the stage he is not that kind of person but daddy is what we we respect in life you know that everybody knows and Eve only her shopping this person was always mistreated and bullied and he she discovered that the that saying that he he met he was made of errand boy actually is something goodness you can call it goodness and he realized this you know this is something not every they don't really appreciate this became all these girls well make him some kind model but not a boyfriend they don't give the who who grew up deprived of this this kindness is goodness so she with this kindness that's what I felt was interesting about this the this heroic figure now he's referenced in the film because so many of the the members of the troupe refer to Leo Fung as being the living embodiment in that kind of an ironic or mocking way and she was the one who sort of recognized the sincere sort of connection to him but at that time was because forgive me for not knowing if you know they Fung the the hero was I mean were was he considered was that was that sort of story considered sort of like passe at the time or was it really taken seriously in the sense that if you were referring to someone ironically or that that might be something that would be you know because they're disrespectful people sir sincerely think he you know in peacetime in this kind of label and this kind of quality is heroic because these are so selfless so you know everything he does was a great or small self-sacrifice so this is a you know what we when we grew up knowing to respect but you know then when he he was put on the pedestal by all these people but when he walked walked down and his tell somebody I'll hold somebody people were saying it's a creepy yeah so it's it's it's like a Jesus comes under technology and it touched me Oh creepy well that's sort of a segues to another question I had director Fung you built your career you started your career making sort of I guess well romantic comedies but also very sharply observed social commentary you know comedy sort of satires of gentle satires of contemporary chinese life and recently you've turned to historical subjects period pieces to explore other themes that also sort of comment on contemporary chinese life when you're working in the historical mode there always seems to be the challenge of nostalgia overly romanticizing the past and that seems to be something that you very carefully balance in the film there's a there's a really strong nostalgic romantic you know atmosphere about the troupe and about this moment in Chinese history but also there's a lot of cruelty there's a lot of conflict there's a lot of pettiness which really balances out that nostalgia I'm wondering when you were making when you're working on this the script and then initiating the film if you were thinking about that balancing nostalgia with sort of reality of what that time what actually was what you did one the children she never saw a condom sure faith hundres foods home from war from the chill of 800 young doctor migration solution for network she's at all my ocean crazy for sure ha ha ha sure one chimney-corner one sooner koala one faith hunter and he won that scene from the photo where antigua our time as youths was quite rough and it was quite difficult but when anyone thinks of their youth they can't really think of it in terms of good or bad but it's something that means a lot it makes you very feel passionately woman today and so for the home side for the hot water entering the pony or continuing assure one singular ride and signature club people in our generation have really lived through a lot and we've I consider us very lucky to have been through the trials that we went through and it's quite precious we said that in the end I've changed I'm sorry did she not only trials but so much change in in in society into the history gin again we were tied for doesn't wanna enter in the payoff so need for Sunday should I do against a man for that matter you all what my Romeo - Joe - NATO room the chimney furniture the woman delegation come from foe come kids these days on the other hand they have experienced a lot of change through electronics into the internet they have everything we had nothing so we've been through a lot and you guys haven't here take a varsity podium virginity Nia Nia Nia I owe you an apology segata top of the pie shop or a pothole or gender identity a motion by a newer partying man Gullo sardinia time emoji one take it but take a moment when diggity Tea Party Afonso help him what'd you say it's full of a shipment of toship all a party of wine so you might notice that there's a theme of abandonment in my films whether it's in the assembly the big army abandons a small platoon or in aftershock it's a mother abandoning her daughter after the earthquake or in 1942 the government of Hunan Province abandoning the people during the famine this movie is about the group the troop abandoning ho shopping I don't know why I just keep writing about this theme of abandonment that's very interesting I was I wanted to return back to your generation and as jinkx I mentioned in the introduction you did not enter the film industry in the traditional way the traditional path I gather is you join you you get accepted into the Beijing Film Academy you graduate with an apprenticeship at a studio you work your way up the ranks and finally you're allowed to direct that's the traditional around you my understanding is that you were accepted into the Beijing Film Academy in the art in the production design department in the art department but it was too expensive so you ended up joining the military and joining this troupe and beginning your craft learning your craft that way I wonder II I'm wondering when you were making this film if you had a chance to reflect on how that experience made you a different filmmaker than maybe other filmmakers of your generation or maybe perhaps better prepared you for the film industry that you've discovered when you first started making your films know what your this yes he put her trio that us really car you see at all or jail what you're hiding area for repairing a joke way 0 whatever circle this fishy Joe's rely on the July you got sure what I saw I need to win them go totem that she Jesse are just a short on says he forbid that partially fishy I come down that take Jim yeah we come come it's true I didn't go to college and I also wasn't a good student in high school partially because of the Cultural Revolution it was during that time but I don't think you need to learn these things in school how to make a film it's really passion that helps you learn how to make a film and in the world learning in the world rather than learning in school and real practice and doing the real thing are the fishy titanium the chief Oh Juan Padilla the movie Portobello the Audion take a chief I didn't the Moody was honey honey so chief Almir not sure what your negative unum jogini titanium poor poor for tension palapa need a veterinarian charger for my Orion cry funny Johnny Tiger how the day Nega me or energy on inequality sir film-school can teach you technique but that's not what we make movies or we don't make them for technique we make them to tell stories about human beings and to tell soul-stirring stories and I'm not saying that the Beijing Film Academy can't teach you how to make a movie they definitely can but they can't teach you how to make a good movie that's up to you in the individual I'm gonna ask one more question then we'll turn it over for the audience this actually question is about technique there's a lot of camera movement in this film a lot of long takes I want to talk about the camera in the context also of the kind of choreography that we see on stage we see I think two types of movie cinematic choreography there's the dance choreography with the working with the dancers and then there's the Worf that amazing sequence the battle sequence which is just one long camera take I think there's something that I'm assuming there's some thumb attic connections between this artistic representation or this theatrical presentation of war in the dance troupe we see them carrying guns we see them carrying flags and then this very realistic chaotic brutal depiction of actual warfare in the end of the film or towards the end of the film I'm curious if you could talk a bit about how you thought about camera movement in relation to the dancers and the dance sequences and then how you had you rethink camera movement in relation to the depicting warfare yesterday there are many long takes that's true in this movie when I think back of my time in the in the art troupe in the in the dance troupe I just think of all those girls and their and their beautiful faces and their beautiful bodies and it really would be hard to take one image because it was it was almost like a river of beautiful images then the concern Tara ha 1 airship rajendran what hello don't go what a god the she sure taking home - I ego you fashion your Petain say what you see oh I can Jennifer yes you're counting told say guitar Joe tell Olivia Doran undo so you're right there's definitely connection the war scene I could have used editing and you know five different scenes over ten minutes could have been done with 500 or 600 shots and used editing to put that whole battle scene together in without doing a long take but if I'd done it that way then the film language in the film grammar would be too much of a stark contrast with all of the long takes the Dancing's Virgin Gorda Papa Trenton the Pavan Sandow certain dental center converging the prevention yato talofa not really letting go what Sanger tape again the Honduran seat or Sofia Tinto so on the change here is a memoir for what they say about it the Angelus so it's true there's there's a lot of long takes every single scene is one long take one of them is even 6 minutes and 25 seconds so it was so it got to the point where my editor asked me what is it that you want me to do here we have time for some questions from the audience so I'm gonna we have some microphones on either side so when i calling you wait for the microphone to come let's go right here first right here there's a microphone coming over here Kanchana ha sumino citizenship engineered a solution on containing young voice especially in the phone fight City Hall today include jogging Tontine but Russia channel nakusoo burn Franzen country devoted agenda one can entertain Pocoyo Haneen MP and omission ano Yan the pianist ho eating certain wala quwata so she is she fancied a senior doll so what when I made serious attention to see area under shoulder chun-li so I was a sound when Serena is Joseph enzymes are significant human circulatory Soumya so now it's the you got songs in mocha yang and the Peoria to secession located on in the seemly craving some charge anything I'm a third-year writing student Thank You director Fung I totally agree with what you said the technique can be taught but character cannot when you pyaar ke you mean what MA well sure so it's like I think the director of the cop other one sees something like this making film the most important things are alike but the screenwriting and also like the character acting so like during are really really long really successful career could you just like share any experience like what kind of like acting some character have on your cell really have moved you would you like share that experience with us my Buddha young what oh you thought your yang yang every single actor in every single one of my movies just given that impression me this is actually a very young cast obviously and a lot of new actors I mean very young in their careers - what was your experience sort of directing the sort of non star very you know young cast in terms of their experience because their performances are all very amazing particularly even as their older characters I thought Soriano a woman a Italian - oh you play Encanto a cinder yang mindfully take a commission like you're like oh yeah ah ho chi minh city ocean yo kitto goddess Fuji mountain and agility lasagna - hmm - le le le and Ji Yong Yong Chi sugar for Tommy you know shamisen - balloon conductivity don't fish on food here I believe that every director has an obligation to cultivate new talent but this movie really doesn't suit using movie stars it really is just obviously calling out for using new actors we shot for a long time two to three months now I'm going to be assured highly a Hydra don't go to pie shop vocal facial oh hi Lea so only just the the act of rehearsing and preparing it was two to three months so by the time they shot the movie the whole troupe was already quite feeling like they were the characters and and and had that sense of familiarity with each other pushing in the back here let's run the mic up - back hi director Falcone and mission cooling I really enjoy in your movie I think you are both heroes of our times for making a film about the culture revolution and as you all know the censorship in China is actually tightening since I teens meeting okay yeah it's it's really not a question of how many good movies I make in my life but how many misperceptions and misconceptions that I can correct it's not a special privilege that I have to make this movie it's just that no one else has made these movies okay what's going in the back here woman in the back on the far side actually the woman on the towards the aisle yeah right there talk about autobiography when we met in Shanghai ah Feng Shang Gong you told me this is not my story but those are stories that of people that I have watched so I was more like an observer and here you are here and I have suspicions that we danced we selected for my writing abilities might be a stand-in for you so I'm trying to figure out where each of you is located in the story game theatres Claudia take a triumphal she'll say that the key to encounter clearly the narrator of the film is a dancer and her name is Xiao Lu Switzer and she is the character that clothing has chosen to be the first person of the story and I believe that is going the only thing is I think the culling is much more beautiful than say things I did these are all fictitious it's a fiction its fights you know it shows is very close to my own experience and I was sanded to the hospital to interview the wounded soldiers so well you know fiction this is a fiction everybody is made up so there was a question in the back yeah right there bring the mic I think it's really good memory for your your generations use how question is after moving today you're sitting here both director and screenwriter decided the memory of her use do you have any other thinking or like about community about history or you have more idea for share with us if you have a more chance to do no film I was just thinking with the accounting question time to meet so they conjure sure she go fish on fish on how that you were talking to senior joining the need area now what the when he shoot cooler chicadini scene from the movie ho I think here Trula she's singing you show you how you can do that here you may know how you take out your shirt say yo y'all need and go country the other Shushan but your toe touch are you can put other what pay ho yo your foursome they're gone you can't you put all the hot Hudson's action Maori pay whole how to poke another something baby so happy I can hear my movie touch your heart [Applause] for this film whatever you feel is what's what's there and whatever you're not feeling has no existence I'm sorry and I wouldn't be able to make this movie again time for one more question so I'm gonna go let's go right in front here bring the mic down to your phone Jade I choose you're walking down well enjoy your accommodations on the this was more of a statement than a question of all the army films I've seen this is the most sensual of all military films everything there's serious elements in it but it's very very sensuous let's say let's turn it into a question this there is a very sensual quality to this film you would mention the dancers earlier they mean connected to the sort of romantic atmosphere that the film creates it really does create a very stark contrast to the war sequences that come in the end and were you thinking about how to balance those elements from the very beginning and in terms of structuring the film's tone oh oh sure may your tell me you gotta take a it is quite a contrast between beautiful and beauty and and cruelty and brutality I don't know how you balance it I don't know how I balanced it okay I think we have to wrap it up I'm sorry about that we got to sort of late but got it's such an honor to have you both on stage thank you so much for joining us really appreciate ya