Jia Zhang Ke's
three-hour film Platform
was
screened at the Venice International Film Festival and was the recent
winner at the Festival
des Trois Continents in Nantes, France. Jia
Zhang Ke is no stranger to the
festival however, having already won its top prize, the Montgolfier
d'Or two years earlier for Pickpocket. Robin Gatto caught up
with Jia Zhang Ke and cinematographer Yu
Lik Wai at Nantes to discuss filmmaking and
festivals from China to France.

The
duration of your film has been much discussed. What can you tell us about
that?

It's not
something I thought so much about when I made the film. The production
gave me a lot of freedom, so the final product just happens to be like
that. Yet, I think it was important to have a duration that allowed to
tell a ten-year story and express the coexistence of time and space.

How autobiographical
is Platform?

I feel a
close relationship with every character in the film, as I have experienced
myself all the situations that are depicted. For instance, I have the
same passion for travelling. I will never forget the first train trip
I ever made in my life, going out of my home town.

How
did you manage to coalesce all your memories into a coherent script?

The shooting
was like a revelation of memories past. Memories kept coming back to me
and guiding me through the film process with great clarity. And I got
the strange feeling that I was much less confused by the past than by
the present.

You said
that the Taiwanese songs of Teresa Teng participated greatly in the feeling
that China was opening up...

Before the
introduction of popular Taiwanese songs in China, we lived in a Puritan
society. The arrival of a new popular culture triggered many thoughts
in young people's minds. For the first time, we had the feeling that something
truly reflected our intimacy, our personal, sentimental experiences. Older
people thought there was something indecent about that. But we, for the
first time, had the feeling to be free from communist collectivism.

I think
the two leaders of the troupe also reflect the evolution of China...

The first
leader embodies the authority of the political regime. When the film begins,
the audience gets acquainted with a propaganda troupe, subsidized by the
state. After China opens up, the troupe becomes an itinerant, self-subsidized
troupe. The second leader belongs to a new race -- that of private, liberal
economy, although his link with the regime remains strong. He belongs
to that period of transition, when the economy prepares to enter capitalism.

Was there
a troupe atmosphere on the set?

I choose
work methods that allow for communication within the crew. There is a
family feeling on the set, indeed, since the crew is mainly made up of
friends. The actors especially are close friends. So we all work tightly,
feeling deep affinities with one another. I think that to make films,
it is important to earnestly believe in a project and throw one's heart
and soul into it. Platform was a bigger production than Pickpocket.
More people were involved, still the film remains very different from
mainstream commercial films. The producers gave us a lot of freedom. For
the first time on the set, I had the opportunity to use a video monitor,
whereas before I used to rely entirely on the cameraman. All these conditions
made it possible to improvise on the set, so shooting is like a never-ending
creating process.

A
question to cinematographer Yu Lik Wai, how did you work on the film?

YLW: Well,
we were looking for realism, but at the same time we tried to incorporate
colors, nuances that would make the narration more expressive. As times
change through the film, we tried to recreate the specific colours of
each era. In the 70s, colours were warmer, yet there was a greenish, almost
dirty tinge to them. In the 80s, with neons, colours were colder, more
monotonous.

What do
you appreciate most about Jia Zhang Ke?

Well, he
loves improvisation, so working with him includes many challenges, as
he keeps asking impossible things from me. For instance, he can decide
to shoot in a restaurant we have not chosen, and within half an hour,
everything has to be ready. But I like that kind of challenges, and more
importantly, Jia and I have the same view on aesthetics, on the way of
using the body of the actor in the frame, and conveying an emotion through
the actor and the landscape. Jia is very talented for this.

Mr Zhang
Ke, what do you appreciate about Yu Lik Wai?

I appreciate
him for the emotion he conveys through his camerawork. He looks at things,
organizes things, but breathes a real life into his work, and lets himself
be affected by the emotions of the film. What is fundamental is that we
share the same views on aesthetics.

Did censorship
try to bar you from making Platform?

Well, my
first feature, Pickpocket, was a clandestine film shot despite
the censorship ban on the script. Consequently, I was banned from making
a second film. I tried to have the ban lifted for two years, but to no
avail. So I decided to have my second film co-produced. Eventually, Platform
is a Chinese-Japanese-French coproduction. T-Mark, a branch of Office
Kitano, brought half of the budget.

Did the
Cinemaverita Foundation contribute something?

Yes, they
gave us money for postproduction.

How do
the authorities view coproductions?

Well it's
even more difficult for coproductions, because the authorities fear the
films will slip out of China more easily and travel on the festival circuit.
So they are extremely distrustful of coproductions.

Is there
an association of directors in China that can exert some influence on
the state of affairs?

Yes, there
is such an association, but it meets only twice a year, so it misses the
point in terms of communication, dialogue, quick reaction to topics. Moreover,
it greets only directors who have made at least two films shown in China,
so for directors whose films have never been shown in China, it is impossible
to be a member of this association.

What's
the most important thing about film festivals?

Well, festivals
allow me to screen my films to a broader audience. I do not target my
films at Chinese audiences only, I want my films to be seen abroad. Of
course, the experiences told in my films are deeply personal and very
Chinese, but I think there is something universal to them as well, so
they can be shared with everybody.

How did
you react to the Tien An Men events?

After Tien
An Men, there was a deep period of doubt for everybody. Our hopes, our
expectations of a new, better world were shattered. Yet, in the following
years, people started to show more and more clearly that they were looking
for something else, away from the grind of communism.

The ending
of your film is rather pessimistic...

I don't think
so. One has to take into account a specific value of the Chinese people:
endurance. Rather than hope, we Chinese talk about endurance.

Is it
a value you have internalized yourself?

Yes, I have.
I've had to accept certain realities and learn to live with a sense of
wait.

Robin
Gatto