Just don’t call him a kung fu film director
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HE Ping, director of “Swordsmen in Double Flag Town” and “Sun Valley,” talked about his experience and views on film finance and advanced technologies like 3D.
In an interview during the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival, He denied he is a kung fu film director, though his most famous works depict swordsmen and heroes.
The 57-year-old director completed his transition to becoming a producer and played a tutorial role for the young directors during the local film festival. He led an organization that offers teaching and financial support to help young Chinese directors. And He was one of the jurors in the Youth Film Growth Plan, a part of the film festival.
He began his directorial career in the 1980s with stage productions and documentary films. In the 1990s, He directed two masterpieces — “Swordsmen in Double Flag Town,” depicting a very young swordsman growing up in a remote town around the desert, and “Sun Valley,” with an avenger arriving at a valley to await his enemies.
He got more fame after directing the adventure film “Warriors of Heaven and Earth” starring superstar Jiang Wen in 2004.
Kung fu film will gradually disappear in cinema but action films are expected to become popular in China, He says.
Q: What about young directors’ films this year?
A: To be frank, I expected more from them. The biggest problem (of the films) is lack of variety as more than half of them are love stories. Chinese films should have more variety like art film, action movie, mystery film and black film, instead of love stories only.
Young people should have the courage and imagination to try for different topics and formats, to get their first masterpiece while in the 30s.
Q: Any surprises from young directors’ works?
A: There are some directors I am impressed with, like one former art film photographer who tried business film and a female director who talked about her story in individualized and unique ways.
I can sense their strong desire to express themselves though they are still lacking experiences. A director should at least pursue a new and unique way or angle different from “fashionable” ones used by many others.
Q: What is your advice to young Chinese directors who lack experience and capital?
A: They have to promote themselves and their works. I found directors are good at visual design. On the other hand, young directors should have the courage to try new things like 3D or 4K.
Q: Which one is more important, a story or visual effects?
A: I know many will talk about how a good story is necessary but I have to say it’s out of time. Directors have to be closely tied in with the latest technologies like 3D or 4K, otherwise you will be abandoned by the film industry and audience later.
China still lacks huge-investment film titles with high technologies, or da pian in the Chinese language. The average investment of a Hollywood blockbuster is about US$100 million to US$200 million, compared with less than 100 million yuan (US$16 million) for most Chinese titles.
Don’t worry about capital. The investment will come when you are really ready.
Q: What was the best movie in your view in 2013?
A: I say it’s “Gravity.” Even though it’s not a complicated or so-called good story, it’s definitely a good movie with shinning technologies and wonderful cutting. It represents the trend of future films as emphasizing visual language rather than all other things. Image is always the essential part of filmmaking.
Q: What’s your view on kung fu films (He was invited as a speaker for a kung fu film forum in the festival.)?
A: I am not a kung fu film director. I was just describing characters in the films. Swordsmen are their careers. That’s all.
The society has changed and the golden time of such movie has passed. There is no hero and swordsmanship community or Jianghu in the modern society. Kung fu novels have also disappeared.
On the contrary, action film is still welcomed in China.
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