|
A stubborn villager, portrayed by Zhang, is reluctant to be relocated
from his decrepit home on Dabie Mountain to a more convenient
neighborhood near the foot of the mountain, as a part of local
government's effort to alleviate poverty. Thanks to a persistent and
patient official, he is persuaded to move, unraveling a secret that has
been hidden for more than seven decades. The female lead is played by Yun Lan, a debutant actress who was selected from more than 20 candidates. The movie was scheduled to start shooting in early February, but was
postponed until April due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Hubei province. As some areas in China had reported new coronavirus cases in April,
Chen recalls he and his crew felt a bit nervous on their flight from
Qingdao to Hefei, the capital of Anhui province. "We shot the movie in Yuexi town in the city of Anqing, just
one-and-a-half hour's drive from Wuhan (the hardest-hit city in China),"
recalls Chen. Through interviews with local elderly villagers, Chen came to learn
that they used to trek for an entire day, climbing over hills, to reach
the nearest town. "Now the town has completely got rid of poverty. With a
concrete road accessible to all households, it takes just around 20
minutes to drive there," he notes. Chen has earned a reputation in showbiz circles by serving as one of
the creators behind the biographical TV series My Uncle Zhou Enlai,
which chronicles Zhou, New China's first premier who died in 1976. Later, he accumulated more recognition through directing the hit TV
series The Fight of Changsha, about the milestone battle during the War
of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), and the war romance
film The Sword and the Flag in the Fog, set during the eve of the
liberation of Beijing in 1949. "I've learned a lot about how modern China has been shaped and the
revolutionary history of the Communist Party through research for these
flicks," says Chen. "So personally, filmmaking is a very interesting job that not only
helps me to travel to a lot of places, but also enriches my knowledge."
| 
Related News
