分水岭与少年说——写给十周岁的全州国际电影节

分水岭与少年说——写给十周岁的全州国际电影节

“不可想象”

“这是我和彭姗第一次来全州，也是第一次来韩国。《背鸭子的男孩》06年在首尔绿色电影节放过，但我们没有去。所以《另一半》在全州的放映，是我们的电影和我们俩真正的‘韩国首次’。”——当汤尼雷恩斯听到我的话时，他非常惊讶：“你没有去过釜山吗？你真的没有去过釜山吗？不可想象！”

是的，我没有去过釜山，并且至今还没有去过！这确实有点“不可想象”：06年完成、07年在全州放映的《另一半》已经是我的第二部片子了，而第一部《背鸭子的男孩》是05年完成的。照理说，我应该有大把的机会去釜山或者其他韩国电影节，但确实没有过。

或许，“缘分”是一种说辞。去全州之前，我在电影节领域的朋友，亚洲区域的都集中在香港、日本和台湾，韩国朋友非常少。尽管在韩国，有我非常喜欢的几位当代导演，但我和韩国的缘分确实不算深。

07年的全州国际电影节是一道特别的分水岭，这得感谢选片主席Jung Soo-wan的热情邀片。这次邀请换来了我与彭姗在全州的数天之旅，换来了许多韩国好朋友，也让我们了解了全州电影节的内在精神。

对了，《另一半》的奖金还换来我的第三部电影《好猫》。

少年影展

这个小标题本来是可能写成“独立影展”或者“数字影展”或者“地方影展”或者“青年影展”之类的，但想一想，总觉那些词偏“窄”，所以选了这个“宽”的。

全州是古都，何来“少年说”？我且证明如下：

全州偏在韩国的西南，我所居住的自贡偏在中国的西南，而两座城市都是所谓山城。每晚看完片，我们走在回酒店的路上，四面飘荡着声嘶力竭的卡拉OK声和酒香，冷不丁几个醉汉还会从拐角处冒出来。这种少年不识愁滋味的感觉、享乐主义的处世态度，都会让我们恍若回到自贡街头。

全州电影节有许多令人不意想不到的地方，除了晚上的摇滚演出和露天电影以外，“电影之路”也是其中之一。影展的各个影院、媒体中心、JIFF广场等等都分布在这条长达数公里的主干道两旁。而最令让人想不到的是：在“电影之路”上，每天都有志愿者组织观众做各种游戏，或者踢毽子，或者钻绳套，无所不有，胜者可拿到奖品。本来“电影之路”的人流量就大，又因为做游戏围观，外加青年男女大呼小叫一番，于是，电影节就变成了青年节、儿童节。

全州的观众和志愿者都是天真如儿童的。每个影院有很多层，每层有很多个放映厅。开映前，观众是一定要把影院的每个空间都挤满的，于是志愿者会站在每一层的“交通枢纽”处，大声报片名和厅号。放映结束，主持人居然会问观众：“好不好看？”观众会回答：“好看。”如果导演在现场，主持人还可能会组织观众齐声感谢导演！每次散场，数十名志愿者又会在放映厅门口站成两排鼓掌欢送！

全州的选片从来是力挺“少年人”的。刘伽茵和坪川拓史、《牛皮》和《美式天然》，无一不是“少年导演”，无一不是“少年之作”。数字技术本来就是初升之日，地方创作又是艺术创作领域中最有生命力的因子，而仅仅十周岁的全州国际电影节以扶持数字电影、地方电影为己任，实在可称为“少年影展”了。

                                                                                                                                     应亮

                                2009年1月11日于四川自贡


（谢谢霄珊和谢华锋的翻译）

Watershed and Adolescence's Ideology: To the Ten-Year Anniversary of JIFF

“Unbelievable”

"This is our first time in Jeonju, as well as the first time in Korea. Taking Father Home was shown at Seoul Green Film Festival in 2006 but PENG Shan and I weren't there. Therefore, the featuring of The Other Half in Jeonju is the first time for both our films and us in Korea". Tony Rayns was very surprised at what we said, "You have never been to Pusan? Are you serious? That's unbelievable!"

That is right. I have never been to Pusan, ever. It is unbelievable in a sense. The Other half, which was finished in 2006 and featured in Jeonju in 2007 was my second feature film. My first one Taking Father Home was done in 2005. Normally, I should have had plenty of chances to go to Pusan or other Korean film festivals, but it hasn't been that way.

Maybe it can be explained by fate. Before I went to Jeonju, most of my asian film friends are in Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan, with very few from Korea. Although I admire several contemporary Korean film directors, my interactions with Korean film world was limited.

The JIFF in 2007 was a special watershed. Thanks to the program director Jung Soo-wan's warm invitation, from which PENG Shan and I had a great trip to Jeonju. We also got to know many good Korean friends and to understand the spirits of JIFF.

By the way, the award that we won from The Other Half also financed our third film, Good Cats.

Adolescence Film Festival

This subtitle could be Independent Film Festival, Digital Film Festival, Local Film Festival or Youth Film Festival, etc. But in another thought, those names sound somewhat narrow, so I chose the one that sounds broader.

Jeonju is an ancient city. Why adolescence? Here are my reasons:

Jeonju is located in the southwest of Korea while Zigong, the city where I live is in the southwest of China. Both cities are so-called mountain cities. On the way to our hotel every night after we finished watching the films, the loud sound of Karaoke and smell of alcohol were floating in the air, with drunk people occasionally rushing out from the street corner abruptly. The feeling of being young without knowing the taste of sorrow and their hedonistic attitude instantly brought us back to Zigong.

There are many surprises at JIFF, such as Rock 'n Roll concerts and outdoor movies; Cinema Street is also one of them. All the movie theaters, media centers and JIFF Plaza are all lined up by the side of the main street of several kilometers. More surprisingly, there were volunteers organizing audience to play all kinds of games, kicking shuttlecock, musical chair. And the winners got the prizes. In addition to the huge pedestrian flow on Cinema Street, the big crowd of onlookers gathered because of the games. With young people screaming and shouting, the film festival became youth festival and even children festival. 

The audience and volunteers are as innocent as children. There are many floors in every theater with many halls on each floor. Before the movie started, the hall was filled to capacity.Volunteers would stand at the crossroad of each floor and announced the movie names and the hall numbers . After movie ended, the host would ask the audience, "Is the movie great?" and the audience would answer "Yes, it is!" If the director was present, the host would even organize the crowd to thank the director. Dozens of volunteers would also stand on both sides of the entrance, giving applause and seeing audience off.

The film selection of JIFF has always been supportive to young directors. LIU Jiayin and Takushi Tsubokawa, directors of Oxhide and Clouds of Yesterday, are both adolescent directors of adolescent works. With digital technologies rising and local production being the most vital factor in the field of art creation, the ten-year old JIFF has been taking responsibilities of supporting digital film and local film. It is indeed an adolescence film festival.

YING Lang

Jan 11, 2009 from Zi Gong, Sichuan Province

(Translators: XIAO Shan, XIE Huafeng)