Wen Cun of Director Sang Hu

Author: Sang Hu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: This book is a collection of film theory essays by Sang Hu, a renowned Chinese television artist and director. The entire book is divided into several sections, including "Directing and Scriptwriting," "Play Reviews," "Reminiscences," "Essays," and "News Works," introducing his related articles. It is suitable for film workers and film enthusiasts. The book is organized into six sections.
The first section is "Directing and Scriptwriting." The leading piece is a late-life autobiography titled "Looking Back on My Film Career," written by my father, with a length of nearly 30,000 words. My father was a man of modest fame, having repeatedly declined offers from well-meaning friends to write his biography. Thus, this self-reflective autobiography becomes even more precious. In this section, it mainly publishes articles written by my father on directorial statements, directorial summaries, and film creation research. It also selects the script of the comedy "False Phoenix" and the completed script of the stereoscopic film "The Magician's Adventure," which are rare creative documents. It is worth mentioning that my father wrote a series of "Notes on Filmmaking" in 1945. These 11 short essays are engaging and concise, providing insights into his aesthetic views, film philosophy, and pursuit of creative style. The Film Director's Lectures is a collection of lectures my father delivered at an amateur author workshop, imparting his directorial insights in an accessible manner.
The second section is "Play Reviews." Before entering the film industry, my father worked at the Bank of China and was an arts enthusiast who loved Peking Opera. He particularly admired Zhou Xinfang's "Qipai" style, for which he wrote over 70 play reviews and used the pen name "Zui Fang," showing his deep passion. However, my father did not simply "praise the stars"; he actively participated in the cultural debate of the time, "Where Should Old Opera Go?" Interestingly, through Zhou Xinfang's introduction, my father met director Zhu Shilin and received significant mentorship from this senior figure, thus stepping into the world of cinema. It is also worth noting that when my father was an apprentice at the Bank of China, he was also a progressive youth. We recently discovered that the 1987 edition of Materials on the Labor Movement in Shanghai's Financial Industry, Volume 2, edited by the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China's History Compilation Committee, contains the following record: "The Bank of China branch strengthened close ties between party members and active members, uniting them more effectively around the party. Through this (co-signed petition) struggle, a new batch of active members was identified, such as Yao Xinyuan, Dong Hengtao, Chen Zhenhua, and Li Peilin." Li Peilin is my father's real name, and his art name "Sang Hu" carries the literary allusion "When I was young, I aimed high as an archer, never studying for fame," which was almost forgotten in the process.
The "Reminiscences" and "Essays" sections include my father's prose works. The former focuses on people, revealing my father's deep affection for his old friends, while the latter centers on travel, showcasing my father's humanistic sentiments and literary talent. One essay, The Bamboo and Tea of Yunqi, was selected three times for inclusion in outstanding prose collections compiled and published by the literary community.
The inclusion of the "News Works" section might seem surprising at first, but my father's original aspiration was to work in journalism. To facilitate research, the book includes seven appendices.