Yao Chen Discusses the Film, "The Cord of Life"

It's such a beautiful film. I think we can all agree just the simplicity, but the complexity somehow together. It's absolutely beautiful. Yes, agree. You can disagree too, it's okay. The first time I saw it actually was in Paris. This is the second time. I'm very grateful to him and his team for bringing this film to New York and to meet so many people. You have good taste. To see it in a city as well, because the space of Inner Mongolia is just so beautiful. I just want to tell you that this grassland is blue, very unusual and very beautiful. And also our first cinematographer, Cao Yue, is also somebody very active in America. He used his exquisite technique and perfect post-production to create a blue grassland that we've never seen before. The thing is, the blue hues is really very special. And you can imagine he really spent a lot of time, a lot of energy also in the post-production to create such a beautiful effect. Yes, and what I want to say is that our budget is limited. So in this film, every shot was shot in real-time, without any special effects. The fire, especially the fireworks, were so beautiful. Yes, the fireworks actually... Because we burned six tons of firewood for it. And then... Because we shot all night until the sun was about to rise, the cinematographer was already going crazy before we finished shooting. And we shot all overnight, overnight, overnight until dawn. And our cinematographer said, hey, we haven't finished the work yet. And the cinematographer said, please add more firewood, add more firewood. But guess what? We ran out of firewood. They didn't tell him the truth. So they tore apart the table and chairs for us to eat, the table and chairs for the whole crew to eat, and threw them into the firewood pile. And they also tore apart our tent and threw it all into the firewood pile. We actually didn't tell him that we completely ran out of all firewood. What we did was, we actually used all resources, including all the kitchenware, you can name it, even the little wooden chairs, wooden tables. What we ate, everything that could be burned, was actually thrown in there. Including tires. Okay, the problem is that maybe you didn't notice, this is a very small detail, but also just a very small imperfection to the film, is that if you notice that when they started with the fire, the fire actually emitted white smoke, light white smoke. And then later on, it became black smoke. Yeah. How did we actually create the sparks that flew so beautifully as they were dancing? We actually had one of the production crew person basically use a rod to keep on actually stirring it in order to create that dance-like effect. And so actually not only that, the dancing has rhythm because this wonderful production assistant was able to actually follow the rhythm of the shooting and go with the music. Okay, so Mr. Cao Yue, who actually is very famous and has done huge, huge large-scale productions, sometimes he was able to actually use 2,000 lights in order to actually light up a scene. Here, we have a total of 14. Okay, we only have a total of 14 that he could use, and he created this effect. It's a challenge for the creative team. It's a challenge for the creative artist. Actually, he relied a lot on natural light. And you can say that those beautiful, romantic sparks, that is actually one of those effects. I don't know how many of you are actually in the film industry or involved in film production. And I know that often people would complain and say that we don't have enough money for our production. We don't have enough money to actually make the effects that we want to create. But you know what? If you're poor, there's a way to make money. There's a poor way of creating that is creative. It really is a challenge as to how we solve problems. Basically, we cannot say that an art film with smaller budget should therefore be less refined. I mean, really, that is totally an anomaly. It's not right. You can say that, yes, it is our director's debut film, first ever film. However, you can see that the production itself is very refined, has really some really beautiful perfection. For example, you remember the mother holding her hands behind her son's ear, wanting him to be listening. And I can tell you that, you know, what you hear now in this film is actually what our sound mixer, our sound designer eventually put together. So you can imagine that, you know, basically to lay out that sound, the effect that you hear, it was actually a hundred tracks. It includes, for example, you know, all sorts of insects sounds, as well as anywhere up to the rustling of leaves and wind, whether it's high up or whether it's very low down near the ground. The thing is, despite it being a hundred different tracks, the way that they are mixed together, the way that they are fused together, you really, really are hearing the grassland. And it's something that is really an amalgamation. That's the magic of a good creative artist. We would like to ask whether anybody has questions. We have a microphone, so it's coming over to you now. Thank you. Very simply, just want to say it's a wonderful film. And also not only that, despite it being the first feature film of our director, there just seems to be such a sense of rhythm, such a sense of narrative to this. And just want to know whether Yao Chen has any more sort of plans and ideas of further supporting artists, further projects in films? OK, Bad Rabbit Pictures. Bad Rabbit Pictures has been in existence for about five years, and we have worked with four women directors who are also young and helping them. And also literally in the past five years, we have created four to five films. When we work together, I don't like to use the word support. I think we explore together like partners. For me, a good creative project, something that is actually good and makes sense, is actually something that includes a lot of adventure and challenges and risks. Because when we work together like that, and taking these chances and taking these risks, we actually don't know what the result is. And that unknown is what actually makes it even more exciting. I may be a veteran actor, however, I am not a veteran producer. And so here I am working with directors who are new and young, and so there is just a lot of excitement of all of us discovering things that are new and trying things that are new, trying things that we've never tried before. In the past few years, I felt that I'm constantly renewing and rejuvenating myself, because actually I learn also from there, to look at the world and things from their perspective, from their angle. And so with that, it is actually creating something new for me too. What I can offer to them is that yes, I've had 20 years of experience in the film industry, so there are ways in which I can maybe help guide them a little bit and provide them with indeed the team and the group, and literally people who can all gather together to create and realize a project. So that is really a relationship of trusting each other, as well as giving to each other, that give and take. So in the future, whether I will continue to work with male directors or female directors, actually I'm not sure myself. Actually, whether or not the continuing and the future projects, whether I would involve male directors or whether I will continue working with female directors, I'm still figuring it out. Not clear yet. Indeed, there are a lot of people who say that you have been supporting female directors, but in fact, we don't just want to work with female directors. People sometimes would say, oh, well, all along it seems like you seem to have this idea or this rule of supporting women directors, but actually I just want to tell you that wasn't really a guideline or a rule that we set up. It just happens that way. But then, considering that, for example, women directors, women share common experiences, and because of that, there's empathy, and with that also, therefore has more trust, and therefore the results of these works. Okay, well... So basically, actually our upcoming project involves a male director, his name is Huo Meng, and it's a story actually about the Chinese countryside, as in the villages, in the peasantry, and actually how that story comes about. So basically, the films that we have created up till now, produced up till now, it's not as if there's a specific genre or a specific style that we adhere to. But the spirit is the same. It is actually highlighting the problems of humans, the problems of how we are living, the problems that we face. Yeah, I agree. I mean, the universal themes of aging parents and reverse parenting, the umbilical cord, the cord of life, are so beautifully presented. And I was hoping to actually invite a friend tonight, but she's been diagnosed with dementia, and so her husband is taking care of her tonight. So it's everywhere. It isn't just for elderly as well, so it's universal challenges. So we have more time for questions, I think, somewhere at the back? She would like to pick somebody who's a woman with a question. The hand is still up? Yes, it's still up. The microphone is coming up. On the side, about the sixth row, can the microphone go there, please? Exactly. We can't really see very well. Raise your hand so they see you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I was very curious about the connection between the director and the mother-son relationship, and whether there was a change in the script during the new crown. Maybe the experience of the new crown or some details were changed. I'm very curious to know. Do you translate it yourself or do I translate it? You translate it. It's all in Chinese. This was shot during the pandemic. And the thing is, you see that this wonderful and very intricate relation between mother and son. So we'd like to know that during the shooting, I mean, during the development, was the script in any way adjusted? Because after all, the pandemic and those three years did actually impact a lot of us and how we see the world. Is the translation okay? No, I want to make sure that she's happy. Amazing, Joanna. She's great. Basically, I just want to tell you that clearly any good film has to have parts that are very private, that belongs to the creators, that you actually share something that is absolutely personal. However, the question had to do with whether our director and the director's own relationship with her parents, was that actually reflected in the film? I don't think I should actually, I'm in the position to answer that. So you can see in this film, a very, very deep bond between two generations, the son and the mother. But at the same time, there's also this idea of, you know, how do you dig into that relationship? How does one actually react and respond to different changes? So basically, when we were first given the draft of this film, it was about two, three years into the screenwriter having developed it. We saw and we read it, and then we felt that, you know, there is still a lot of the cinematic elements that actually had to be refined. And so that took an extra two years before we get the script to be ready. Well, as you know, basically, by the time we wanted to start the production, there was also the pandemic, which also means that everybody was quarantined or locked up in a different place. And we're talking about different cities. So the director was in Inner Mongolia, I was in Beijing and various other people. So basically, every few days we would have meetings, and these meetings actually on the online meetings would go on for four or five hours. When we first started, everybody at least, you know, combed their hair, put a little bit of makeup, had good lighting. And then they were showing themselves in, you know, whatever those windows that are actually appear on your computers or laptops. But actually, gradually, people started being a little bit less worried about how they looked. Eventually, basically, the hair was a mess. And then at the end, everybody switched off their screens. Yeah, the most difficult and tricky question that we handled was actually how do we portray, how do we depict the mother leaving, her departure? Yeah. So we had one, there was one option of maybe during that whole dancing scene, at one point maybe somebody who was a drunkard suddenly, you know, accidentally pushed her, and so therefore she suffered some sort of accident and dies. But the thing is, we just felt that, you know, the idea of this film is that there is something that is very unreal and dreamlike, and then there is the reality. And so we just wanted to see how we could actually find that middle point, find that ideal solution. I'm afraid our dream is coming to an end also because we're running out of time. And there's no lockdown here, but I know we'd all love to stay, but the time is unfortunately running out. So I'd just like to take this opportunity once again to thank Yao Chen for coming all this way. And we're very honored that you've come to Asian Society, and we welcome all of you to Asian Society to come again for more films, for our museum. But thank you so much for making the long trip to be with us, and we're very honored to honor you as a game changer, particularly for your support for young female and soon-to-be male directors as well.