Interview with Chen Kaige at Monsters and Critics
by Andre Soares
Recommended reading: At the Hollywood Reporter, Jonathan Landreth interviews Chen Kaige (Ba wang bie ji / Farewell, My Concubine), whose Wu ji / The Promise is China’s submission for the 2005 (or 2006) Best Foreign-Language Film Academy Award.
A brief quote:
"[My father] was totally against my becoming a director because the older generation has been through a very difficult time. It was pretty sensitive to be a film director back then. It was very easy to put them blame on them saying ‘You did a bad film,’ or ‘You want to poison people.’ My father thought it was a very dangerous job for me to take 25 years ago. When I tried to become a student in the directing department of the Beijing Film Academy, he didn`t say, ‘No, no, no, don’t do that,’ but since it was my choice he respected that but he said, ‘Okay, just make sure you know that it`s a very hard job and make sure that you don`t give up.’"
Comments
Leave a Reply
Note: All comments are moderated. Different views and opinions are welcome, but abusive/bigoted/flaming comments will NOT be approved. Also, please be aware that the Alternative Film Guide has NO contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog or any information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.
