16 | Tuesday, October 13, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY LIFE Changchun effect Actor Liu Ye sees the pandemic as a time for Chinese filmmakers to focus on quality work, Xu Fan reports. or many people, facilities such as a swing, seesaw or crew members, he was not satisfied slide are likely to be the first with his performance. pieces of equipment that “But when I look back at the film Fcome to mind when picturing a after working as an actor for many playground. years, I realize that I could convey But for actor Liu Ye, who spent his the role’s temperament of being a childhood at the Changchun Film simple and pure youngster, despite Studio — New China’s first movie me, as the character, looking a bit production company located in Jilin silly and dull,” says Liu. province — his playgrounds were In around 50 films, ranging from the soundstages there. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seam- Having grown up in Changchun, stress (2002) to Curse of the Golden the provincial capital, Liu served as Flower (2006) and Cock and Bull the ambassador of the 15th Chang- (2016), Liu has portrayed various chun Film Festival, an annual event roles in a career spanning more than that was held in early September. 20 years. Among the country’s first such Speaking about his latest acting post-outbreak events, where awards effort, Liu says he was scheduled to were presented in person, the festi- shoot Shou Dao Ren (The Island val is a way to boost domestic film- Guard) in early February, but the makers’ confidence in the speeding shooting was postponed until May up of the industry’s recovery. due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “My childhood memories are The film is adapted from the true tightly bound with the cinema cir- story of Wang Jicai, militia sentry cle in Changchun,” Liu says during director on Kaishan Island in Jiang- a telephone interview with China su province who died of a sudden ill- Daily. ness at age 58 in 2018. Wang and his Both his parents worked at the wife had watched the country’s east Changchun studio — his father as a coast for more than three decades. light technician and his mother as Liu says the film commemorates an accountant with the internal Wang’s dedication. labor union. Liu has witnessed the develop- Liu says his family lived in the ment of Chinese cinema over the staff dormitories at the studio, decades, from efforts to make aca- which also had a kindergarten, demic art-house titles in the 1990s school and hospital. to filmmakers’ shift to producing “The soundstages were my play- big-budget movies in the early grounds, where you could see a lot of 2000s. props, such as dummies. I still He says film production has remember how shocked I was to see become more mature today. actors ‘fly’ while they were shooting “The construction of theaters and a Monkey King-themed movie on a screens is expanding rapidly, and film set designed to resemble the Flam- budgets have gone up, too. All these ing Mountain (a fictional setting in are big changes. Unlike in the past the 16th-century novel Journey to when cinema was more auteur work, the West).” Right: Liu Ye speaks at an event it is now catering to the market.” Liu’s mother often got cinema tick- as the ambassador of the 15th Liu says he once felt confused at ets that were given to staff members, Changchun Film Festival in being urged to care more about the making theatergoing a regular September. Left: Liu plays the investment and commercial return entertainment for Liu at a young age. lead role in Shou Dao Ren, instead of focusing on the creative Considered the “cradle of Chinese adapted from a true story of a side. cinema”, the Changchun Film Stu- dedicated militiaman. Above But the pandemic, which forced dio has produced more than 900 and top: Liu’s best­known films cinemas in the country to close for feature films and translated over include Postmen in the Moun- six months, is being seen by Liu as a 1,000 foreign films over the past sev- tains and Cock and Bull. chance for domestic filmmakers to en decades. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY take a break to focus more on creat- Influential classics that have ing quality work. remained etched in the minds of “Cinema has a charm that can last generations of Chinese include Five forever. I believe Chinese cinema Golden Flowers, Heroic Sons and will open a new chapter to again rise Daughters, Third Sister Liu and Cinema has a charm to prosperity,” he says. Dong Cunrui. Like some of his peers, Liu is con- With a passion for cinema culti- that can last forever. I sidering changing focus from acting vated in his adolescent years, Liu believe Chinese to directing. easily attained admission for acting He says he wishes to helm a “noir classes at the Central Academy of cinema will open a fairy tale”. One of his favorite films is Drama in 1996. His classmates new chapter to again Tim Burton’s Big Fish. included Zhang Ziyi, Yuan Quan, The big screen is a space for peo- Mei Ting and Qin Hao, all of whom rise to prosperity.” ple to create a dream, Liu says. “I later became A-list stars. Liu Ye, actor, speaking of the believe this art form can never be While in college at the age of 19, underestimated classic that has Rooster Awards — a top honor in pandemic’s impact on China’s replaced by any other form of enter- Liu landed his first leading role, por- regained recognition in China after Chinese cinema — for the movie. film industry tainment.” traying a young mail carrier in it became a hit in Japan in 2001. Liu, now 41, says that, at first, director Huo Jianqi’s feature film In 1999, Liu was nominated for while watching some unedited Contact the writer at Postmen in the Mountains, a once best supporting actor at the Golden scenes with the director and other [email protected] Symphony dedicated to 2020 premieres in Beijing By CHEN NAN [email protected] When composer Zou Ye was The coronavirus may approached by conductor Yu Long have silenced our earlier this year to compose a piece on the impact of the COVID-19 out- symphony halls, but break, Zou was excited but had musicians are like nowhere to start. Zou, 64, who lives in Beijing, is a soldiers, trying to Wuhan native. His hometown, capi- encourage and tal of Hubei province, was the hard- est-hit city in China during the inspire people with outbreak and that made him anx- music.” ious and depressed. “Music seemed to be a good way Yu Long, chairman of Beijing to express my feelings for my home- Music Festival town. But the feelings were very complicated and it took me some This year’s Beijing Music Festival raises its curtain with the world premiere of Dedicated to 2020 under the baton of Zou Ye. The symphony went beyond music and we wit- time to clear my head,” he recalls. is a tribute to people whose lives have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY nessed a different kind of shared The composer worked on the piece journey,” says Fang. from February to September. Titled Zhang Shouzhong, director of the Dedicated to 2020, the symphony, “The piece is a milestone, which encourage and inspire people with past seven months and has become Philharmonic Orchestra, was Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring soprano Zhang Liping, bar- marks the year 2020. It feels like music.” what it is now,” Zou says. admitted to Renmin Hospital of says over 80 musicians from the itone He Leiming — both Wuhan music has entered a new realm, Zou invited two other Wuhan On Friday, the day before the Wuhan University on Feb 11 and had orchestra joined the performance as natives — and members of the with a new bond between artists natives to write the piece — com- opening concert in Beijing, the three been cared for by medical teams they wanted to express gratitude to Wuhan conservatory chorus, pre- and audiences. We would like to poser Fang Shi, a classmate at the musicians met in person for the first from Shanghai and Sichuan prov- those who helped Wuhan and to miered during the opening concert dedicate the new piece to people Wuhan Conservatory of Music from time since the outbreak. ince that went to Hubei to support express sorrow for those who lost of the Beijing Music Festival at Poly whose lives have been affected by 1978 to 1982, and lyricist Tang Zou says he was inspired by sto- the province during the outbreak. A their family members and friends. Theater in the capital on Saturday. the coronavirus pandemic,” says Yu, Yuesheng. ries of people in his native city. A photo of Wang watching the sunset “When the outbreak hit the city, The Wuhan Philharmonic who founded the Beijing Music Fes- “The piece has been developed memorable news item from earlier went viral, inspiring Zou. our musicians became volunteers to Orchestra, Beijing Symphony tival in 1998 and is the festival’s from the view of Wuhan, a city which this year featured a coronavirus The composer wrote a violin con- help local communities,” he says, Orchestra and the China Philhar- chairman. was hit hard earlier this year by the patient, 87, watching the sunset with certo as the seventh chapter in Dedi- adding that the first online concert monic Orchestra presented the “The coronavirus may have viral outbreak, to the whole world, his doctor in Wuhan.