New China Film 50 Years

Author: Li Suyuan et al. / Country:
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-12-01
Features:
6. Exploration films were popular in the new era, with many artists working diligently to explore and create innovative works, giving rise to a new generation of young artists. Without exploration in art, there can be no breakthroughs; without breakthroughs, there can be no innovation. The Sand Swimmer sought new explorations in cinematic language, influencing the improvement and advancement of film language in the new era. Red Sorghum stood out in both film techniques and perspective, earning praise from critics both at home and abroad. The exploration in Not Seeing Each Other won the former favor of the audience, while the latter, despite its bold innovations in romanticism, failed to be understood by viewers. Practice has shown that exploration and innovation must be tested and evaluated by the audience. Artists are bound to face setbacks, and it is essential to listen to various opinions, summarize experiences, and continue to explore and innovate to create films that resonate with the audience.
7. The issue of entertainment films sparked heated discussions after the reform and opening-up. In my opinion, while China's socialist cinema has commercial attributes, it is not a mere product seeking stimulation for profit. We must attract audiences with superior artistic skills, meet their needs for artistic appreciation and healthy entertainment, and achieve favorable returns in the film market to support further production.
8. I hope the Film Critics Association and the China Film Art Research Center will prioritize film theory development and actively engage in film criticism. Although there has been some exploration on the theoretical topic of building a socialist Chinese cinema, theoretical construction remains insufficient. Currently, film criticism is influenced by market competition, becoming commercialized, which is understandable but also necessitates the development of independent, fact-based criticism to guide audiences in appreciating films correctly. For the improvement of artistic creation, it is crucial to continue implementing the principle of "let a hundred flowers bloom and let a hundred schools of thought contend." After a film's release, creators should seriously listen to and study audience feedback and opinions, critics should conduct in-depth analyses, and creators can also engage in counter-criticism. It is essential to eliminate biases arising from differing views, schools, or factions during discussions and promote a spirit of mutual assistance among colleagues. I hope film studios create conditions for various artistic explorations in writing, directing, acting, cinematography, and other fields to enhance artistic standards.
9. Thanks to the leadership of Party committees and governments at all levels, China's film creation and production have sustained development. Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping summarized many experiences and made important statements on strengthening and improving the Party's leadership over cinema. Especially in the new era, Deng Xiaoping paid special attention to the Party and government's leadership of the film industry. When implementing the Party's line, principles, and policies, grassroots Party committees and leaders should study the realities of film creation, respect the artistic characteristics of cinema, adhere to the laws of film art, and value the labor of creators. Learn from creators and help them overcome practical difficulties in the creative process.
10. Building a socialist Chinese film market should prioritize the distribution and screening of domestic films to promote orderly competition among them. Appropriately select foreign films that contribute to China's spiritual civilization for the market, avoiding excessive reliance on American films. Since the new era, China's film economy has undergone various difficult explorations and reforms, breaking the original planned economy model. Due to complex factors (including the generally low artistic quality of domestic films), the share of domestic films in the market remains limited. We recognize the need for comprehensive development of the film market, but deep reforms of the film economy system still face many challenges, with no sound mechanism yet established. The film economy remains in, inevitably affecting the improvement of China's film art quality. Engels said, "Necessity, when not understood, is blind; freedom is the understanding of necessity." I hope everyone will explore the valuable experience of 50 years of New China cinema, understand necessity, and grasp more freedom. As we enter the new century, we must continue to strive for the construction of a socialist Chinese cinema, constantly explore and innovate. We have confidence in predicting that China's cinema in the new century will be even more glorious! The realism in New China cinema, from Mei Duo to their sincere feelings for their country and ideals, can inspire us with greater confidence in the future of Chinese cinema. Fifty years, its significant journey includes the initial 17 years and the 20 years of the new era. The pioneering 17 years, the "17 Years," marked the initial stage of New China cinema, naturally highlighting our artistic spirit on the screen. First and foremost, there was an effort to create heroic images of the people, showcasing their great character as historical protagonists and their noble spirit of resistance and pursuit of ideals. Our artists did their best in this regard, especially because they had always shared joys and sorrows with the people and fought alongside them. Thus, in their artistic creations, we could feel their passionate bond with the people. When we first saw films like The White-haired Girl, New Heroes of the People, South to North Battle, and River Crossing Reconnaissance on the screen, we were immediately swept into the storms of that era, receiving a spiritual baptism of unity with the people in breath and hardship. Especially at that time, the heroic figures created on the screen, like Dong Cunrui, with their distinct personalities and vivid artistic vitality, would forever remain in our hearts. Of course, since we have entered an era of free creation, we naturally demand broader artistic space. At the same time, since we illuminate life with the light of ideals, we naturally expect artists to deepen their ideological and aesthetic understanding of reality. If we can follow the people's wishes and the laws of art to further authentically reveal the richness and complexity of life, and express the diversity and originality of art, our film art will undoubtedly climb higher and higher in creation. However, at this point, differences in artistic views emerged among us, despite having all been influenced by the cultural traditions of the May Fourth Movement. One view placed art directly in the position of a political struggle tool, with the slogan of "art serving politics." At the same time, a theory emerged among them, based on the philosophical opposition between materialism and idealism, that categorically divided literature and art into realism and anti-realism, fundamentally excluding other aesthetic pursuits and placing a specific title before realism, directly positioning it as a political tool. Different from the above theoretical views, some artists affirmed the aesthetic principles of realism but did not exclude other aesthetic principles. On the other hand, they strongly disagreed with incorporating realism into the framework of a political tool, insisting on starting from life to authentically reveal its historical complexity and the richness of reality, advocating for stylistic diversity. They also emphasized creating vivid and meaningful characters as the core of artistic pursuit, thereby elevating the spiritual quality of the people. The "17 Years" were precisely a process of continuous collision and mutual influence between these two artistic views. The heated film discussions of 1956 and the debates triggered by Qu Baiyin's Soliloquy on Innovation in 1962 were manifestations of ideological clashes between different perspectives. When the former view held sway, a large number of works that and were formulaic and conceptual were produced, while some works that sought to deviate from this trend were criticized. For example, Between Husband and Wife and Captain Guan were criticized merely for slightly touching upon the complexity of life. When the latter view was temporarily recognized and affirmed, immediate changes occurred in creation, resulting in excellent and relatively excellent films like Lin's Shop, The Blessing, Nie Er, The Storm, The Serf, Early Spring in February, and Sisters on Stage. These films each displayed distinct artistic personalities in their choices of themes and pursuit of styles.