At the young age of 30, film director Qiu Yang is already celebrated for his excep- tional talent and remarkable achieve- ments. His first short film Under the Sun
was selected for the Cinéfondation Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. His second short A Gentle Night won the Palme d’Or for short film at Cannes 2017 – only the second Chinese winner of the Palme d’Or, after Chen Kaige in 1993. His latest short She Runs won the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for Best Short Film at Inter- national Critics’ Week in Cannes this year. He is the first Chinese director to have won both the short film compe- tition and Critics Week.
At the 4th International Film Festival & Awards of Macao (IFFAM), Qiu Yang joined Cristian Mungiu, Noah Cowan, Kirsten Tan and Tricia Tuttle on the New Chinese Cinema Jury, determining five accolades among seven exciting Chinese-language films of the year: Better Days by Derek Tsang (Best Actress), Lucky Grandma by Sasie Sealy, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains by Gu Xiaogang (Best Film), Under the Sun by Liang Ming (Best Actor), Over the Sea by Sun Aoqian, Wet Season by Anthony Chen (Best Director), and To Live To Sing by Johnny Ma (Best Screenplay).
“I had already seen four or five of the films before I came to IFFAM. I would say that every film is sincere and has its highlights. Of course, there is still room for improvement somewhere in the films,” Qiu Yang told CLOSER in an exclusive interview a day before the award cer- emony.
Though not at liberty to reveal the results or his choices at the time of the interview, Qiu indicated that he relies first on intuitive feelings toward films.
“The key is whether a film can connect with me and touch me. Surely people may be touched by different things in the work, like emotions, thoughts or the artistic author- ship. But to make the audience feel touched is the fundamen- tal indicator of a good film, I believe. After that, I will ponder why I am touched by it.”
Qiu admits that the five jury members did have differ- ences of opinions when it came to awarding certain acco- lades, but acknowledged that this is “where the meaning of the job lies”.
“The communication between the jury members is very inspiring. Everyone has their own perspectives, and looking at Chinese films through their eyes is an exciting experience for me,” Qiu explains, adding that the diversity of profession- al roles, gender and sexual orientation within the jury con- tributed to multiple perspectives on films.
“It’s like several people sitting in a circle and looking at an apple in the centre from different angles. It’s still the same thing – an apple – but everyone sees different details,” he comments.
Earlier, at the press conference of the IFFAM juries on December 5, Qiu expressed his belief that filmmakers should establish a global vision and “film for an international audi- ence”. His own perspective, according to the director, is still very much a Chinese one, as he spent his formative years in his hometown of Changzhou before studying film directing at the Victorian College of the Arts in Australia. His own direc- torial works, including three short films and a feature project he is working on now, are all set in his hometown, where he still lives now. “Localness” has become the trademark of his films in a sense.
“I don’t need to live in big cities. And why would I make films somewhere else? To me, shooting films in Changzhou is the default. If I am to film in an unfamiliar place, I have to convince myself at artistic, aesthetic, and all other levels,” he notes.
“When I was writing the script for A Gentle Night, I orig- inally wanted to set the story in Chongqing, a city I like very much. I even lived there for two weeks to look around. But when I viewed the city as an outsider, I naturally became nov- elty-seeking, and I felt the film would come out containing mostly spectacles. It’s inevitable, it’s the curiosity in our na- ture. So, after my stay in Chongqing, I felt that I was incapable of filming there – anything I could produce at that stage was not good enough for the city,” Qiu recalls.
“Find things that people are so used to in life, but fail to notice, and dig out their uncommonness – that’s the key task of a director,” he stresses.
Another reason he remains in his hometown, is to keep away from the tides of the industry and remain a pure cre- ator.
“I live in Changzhou so that I always keep a distance from the industry. People have been talking about the ‘bitter winter’ of the film and television industry in China recently, but I’ve never really felt I’m in the industry. I am always in Changzhou, working on my projects. I keep a distance from the booms, and the busts,” the director laughs.