18 |LIFE Thursday, January 10, 2019

CHINA DAILY | CHINADAILY.COM.CN/LIFE

Director Lu Qingyi Fans get Hope springs eternal Chinese version of Award-winning film is a heartwarming tale of four springs, three kids, two Mamma parents and a family finding meaning in everyday life, Li Yingxue reports.

mateur director Lu Qing- Mia yi’s debut work, Four ! again A Springs, which won the best documentary at the — Shen Xiaocen still FIRST International Film Festival, remembers the moment when hit Chinese cinemas on Jan 4. she received an audition notice The documentary follows Lu’s for the Chinese version of Mam- family life over four Spring Festival ma Mia!, nine years ago in Lon- celebrations from 2013 to 2016, and don. reunions with his parents, elder sis- Shen, a star singer active in ter and brother in Dushan county, China during the 1980s, now Mawei town, Southwest China’s lives overseas. Guizhou province. “Starring in Mamma Mia! is Lu’s documentary mainly follows the ultimate dream of my sing- the daily lives of his parents, Lu ing career,” she says. “I longed Yunkun and Li Guixian, and the fun for an opportunity to sing in and humor before Lu’s camera this globally popular produc- presents the audience with a simple tion, using my native language but touching story. back in my motherland.” Born in 1973, Lu left home when Mamma Mia!, a jukebox musi- he was just 15 years old. He has had cal that premiered in London in various jobs, including soccer play- 1999, is based on 22 songs of er, bar singer, editor and camera- iconic Swedish pop group ABBA. man. It tells the story of kinship, He turned the lens on his parents friendship and romance. during Spring Festival in 2013, As of 2018, it had been per- when he returned home for the holi- formed in 440 cities in 50 coun- day, and for four years he recorded tries, attracting an audience of his visits home. over 60 million people. During that period, his elder sister The Chinese version of Mam- passed away and the film bears wit- ma Mia! made its debut in ness to his parents’ journey to redis- Shanghai in July 2011, constitut- cover their vitality following the ing its 14th language version, funeral, culminating with them and has been performed 400 dancing after cleaning their daugh- times. The show has just ended ter’s tomb. its run in Beijing, and will be “The happiness of life is to see staged on Friday in , that one’s vitality leaves a mark in on Jan 22 in Nanjing and on life. Life is beautiful, and one should July 19 in Shanghai. find strength when facing difficul- In the show, Shen plays the ties,” Lu said at the film’s premiere role of Tanya, a position she on Jan 2 in Beijing. continues to hold. As for the It all began seven years ago when others, many have made Lu posted on Douban, an online progress from previously platform in China for shared-inter- uncredited roles. est communities, under the nick- name of Qichuang, Chifan (“get up and eat”). His two articles, My Dad and My Mom, which were uploaded with photos, resonated with many of his fellow users on Douban and attract- ed numerous comments. It was this reaction that encouraged him to start making videos of his parents. A scene from the Chinese In 2015, Lu watched an interview version of Mamma Mia! with director Hou Hsiao-hsien from Clockwise from top: Lu Qingyi’s parents Lu Yunkun (left) and Li Guixian take a picture when traveling; the couple play instruments staged at the Guangzhou , who said that if you want to together in their leisure time; and Lu Qingyi and his parents eat dinner in their yard. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Opera House in 2013. make a film, you just make it, and GAO DIANHUA / FOR CHINA DAILY the experience will come as you shoot. He decided, then, to compile to cut the 250 hours worth of foot- as “an epic, starring ordinary peo- As the film’s honorary producer, the videos into a film. age on his own. However, last July, ple.” actor Kun shed tears when he Zhou Xiaowei, who was He stopped recording following the final 105-minute version was The committee of the film festival watched the film at the premiere. He studying directing at Shanghai Spring Festival in 2016. Lu explains Unlike other finished. stated that in Four Springs, “The explained that it was not because he Theater Academy when the first that he made the decision to stop documentaries ... Four Springs was nominated for placid singing of the parents infuses felt sad but because he was touched. season of the Mandarin version because he noticed his parents the best editing award at last year’s warmth into their daily life, and “The story tells us that we can find of Mamma Mia! was holding aging a lot more acutely following this film has an Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, shows that meaning can be found in the bigger meaning of life in just nor- auditions, did not pass her final the death of his sister. uplifting spirit and but lost out to Lei Cheng Ching’s reunions and the loneliness after mal everyday things,” he says. round audition for Sophie. But “I wanted my parents to see the Dear Ex. However, in July it won the separation. Unlike other documen- Film critic Shi Hang adds: “The that did not mark the end of her final film, so I started to cut and edit offers the audience best documentary award at the 12th taries that tend to be serious and life recorded in Four Springs ties to Mamma Mia! as she now the film after I shot footage in the a brighter outlook.” FIRST International Film Festival are focused on marginalized sec- reminds me of my own.” plays Lisa in the fourth season. spring of 2016.” in Xining, Northwest China’s Qing- tions of society, this film has an Speaking of her progress, Lu’s original version ran up to five The committee of the FIRST hai province. Li Ziwei, organizer of uplifting spirit and offers the audi- Contact the writer at Zhou says many talented people hours, because he found it difficult International Film Festival the film festival, described the film ence a brighter outlook.” [email protected] benefited from being part of the Chinese version. Tian Yuan, who helped intro- duce the original version of Mamma Mia! to China in 2007, Bringing the past into the future moved on to become the pro- ducer of the Chinese version. Looking back, Tian says that By XING WEN Filming of the 100-episode series, when she saw the original ver- [email protected] Blooming Crafts, will start this sion in London, it immediately month. It’ll explore how craftspeo- occurred to her that she wanted Zhang Xiaodong’s obsession with Some ancient arts ple are adapting to modernization. to “do something” for China. ancient books has urged him to are at the risk of The first season will show crafts in “China’s market for musicals revive a forgotten binding technique becoming obsolete. such countries as Australia, Ethiopia is still in its infancy. But there’s from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Turkey, and seven Chinese cities, huge growth potential as audi- and to hand-make different kinds of I think including Beijing, Suzhou and Jing- ences become increasingly paper books with exquisite work- commercialization dezhen. aware of this art form,” says manship. Host and producer Zhao Pu, a Tian. “I loved reading in university,” he is a good former China Central Television However, she says the num- recalls. way to anchorman, has long been passion- ber of people who like musicals “I found that many books are sub- ate about traditional culture. is still small, and the speed of tly designed.” protect “Crafts are a borderless language,” growth doesn’t match the num- This enticed the 37-year-old to them. Zhao says. ber of new productions. “There- become a book designer after gradu- “They connect people from differ- fore the market faces a ation. Zhao Pu, TV host ent cultures. Some ancient arts are at Artist Zhang Xiaodong’s effort to revive China’s ancient dragon- tremendous challenge and But the market has declined in and producer the risk of becoming obsolete. I scale binding technique (pictured above) will be presented in a needs to be gradually built up.” recent years with the prevalence of think commercialization is a good documentary named Blooming Crafts. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY China needs to begin with online readers, smartphones and way to protect them.” learning, which is done through tablets. He spent years studying the tech- He’s cooperating with Dongjia, an in-depth exchanges with interna- Zhang has been studying histori- nique, although he couldn’t find e-commerce platform that links shan, says customers can order cus- around 7,500 craftspeople. All the tional teams, says Tian. cal documents about dragon-scale many references to guide him. He craftspeople and customers. tomized items like furniture, tea sets creators featured in the series will be Speaking about the Chinese bookbinding. Bookmakers must succeeded in creating books using “We’re not just recording and pro- and jewelry. They can contact the cre- invited to join Dongjia and develop production, Mark Whittemore, paste the edges of hundreds of pages the method in 2010. moting those crafts. We want to try a ators to explain their requirements. connections with customers, accord- international manager of Mam- on a long scroll at certain intervals to The story of dragon-scale binding new way to bring real profits to arti- “Makers can also draw inspiration ing to Zhu. ma Mia!, says: “I am very proud ensure the margins create complete and Zhang’s efforts to sustain it will sans.” from users’ suggestions and The first season of Blooming of the version. It has very high pictures across the pages. be featured in a TV documentary Documentary viewers can scan requests,” Zhu says. “This helps Crafts will air on Xi’an Radio and TV standards and is as good as any “It’s marvelous,” Zhang says. about traditional folk arts in coun- QR codes on the screen to purchase craftspeople keep pace with the Station after the first World Crafts- other version around the world.” “I believe this endangered art tries involved in the Belt and Road the featured crafts via Dongjia’s app. times.” man Conference kicks off in Xi’an on shouldn’t be lost.” Initiative. Dongjia’s co-founder, Zhu Jian- Zhu’s platform has gathered May 28. XINHUA