Hangzhou leads in reviving Chinese animation
Print Edition
Chinese animation was highly-regarded in the world during 1940s to 1960s for its unique Oriental aesthetics and ink-wash style, but it fell silent during the cultural revolution (1966-76). Only in the recent years efforts have been made to revive the Chinese-style animation.
A Hangzhou animation, “The Magic Train,” is full of Chinese artistic conception. It won the Award of Merit of Animated Film at the San Francisco Film Awards two months ago. It also won the third prize in Feature Animated Movie at the 10th Athens Animfest in Greece last month, and has been shortlisted in four categories at the Madrid International Film Festival.
“The Magic Train” will be the opening film at the 11th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival which will be held from tomorrow to May 3.
The film is based on an American-born Chinese girl Linlin’s experience during a visit to China. The 86-minute film composes of 10 separate short animations which interlink with each other. “The Magic Train” takes the girl to 10 different places, including the past, a wild land, and a Peking Opera stage.
“It is a film about Chinese culture, and not simply introducing China,” says Joe Chang, the director-in-chief of “The Magic Train.”
“Ten different stories carry universal values, which are philosophical,” he says.
Three short animations among the 10 have been created by Chang. He is an award-winning director, animator and artist. He studied art in China and then in Japan. He immigrated to Canada in 1990. The animated short “The Chinese Violin” (2000) was his first film with the National Film Board of Canada.
He cites examples like in “Butterfly” the insects can never leave the cage, in “Gardener” some trees grow while some just don’t; and in the “Chui Gui Meng” (“Spring Dream”), an adaptation of a piece of Chinese Peking Opera, a woman sings for her husband who died during war, “which is actually anti-war,” Chang says.
The story is completed by 10 directors, who all teach animation and cartoon in colleges in Hangzhou. Chang is the dean and professor of School of Art, Zhejiang University of Technology.
Xiaoheshan Animation and Comic Research Institution of Zhejiang University of Technology is the main producer of the film.
The team did the film during their off hours, thus combining 10 short films into one is an economic and convenient way of cooperation. They spent over five years to finish the work.
But it is the very point that makes the film distinctive. As venues vary, the styles of animation alter. 3D technique is used at “Gardener” for the effect of making a wild land, ink-wash painting style makes the “Lotus in Rain” extremely Chinese, and during “Butterfly” a real man is at play and animation is mixed.
Another highlight of the film is the background music. All background music is specially adapted version of traditional Chinese music, such as “The Moon over A Fountain,” “Plum-blossom in Three Movements” and “A Night of Flower and Moonlight by the Spring River.”
They are trimmed to be more dramatic.
“We set the rule at the very beginning that we will use Chinese elements, so it is a Chinese animation, not a copy of American or French feature,” the director explains.
Also, Chinese style dances, operas and arts play a part in the feature.
The film does not have much dialogues, therefore its philosophical meanings and music are more highlighted.
Screening has been started at the Chinese cinemas since last Saturday.
The film was also shortlisted for the Underground Film Festival 2015 in Munich, Germany; 33rd Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran, Iran; LeMIAFF: Montreal International Animation Film Festival; 1st International Children Film Festival of Balangir 2015, Odisha, India; and IAFF Golden Kuker in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Before this film, another Hangzhou animation “The Dream of Jinsha” was shortlisted for the Oscars, and several individual animation directors from the Chinese mainland like Ray Lei and Liu Jian have received international awards.
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