Macao fest jurors offer advice to new filmmakers

MACAO — The ongoing International Film Festival and Awards Macao (IFFAM) has put the spotlight on fresh talent by featuring 11 films in competition from first and second-time filmmakers. The filmfest’s third edition ends today.

“(IFFAM) wants to really focus on young filmmakers,” said festival director Mike Goodridge. Movies selected are Ága, All Good, Clean Up, Jesus, Scarborough, School’s Out, Suburban Birds, The Good Girls, The Guilty, The Man Who Feels No Pain and White Blood.

The Macao festival boasts of an internationally-acclaimed panel of jurors — Chinese director Chen Kaige, Hong Kong filmmaker Mabel Cheung, Bosnian director Danis Tanovic, Australian producer/director Paul Currie and Indian actress Tillotama Shome.

More than having their films scrutinized, the newbies can learn from the experiences of the Oscar and Cannes-winning jurors, particularly during the crucial beginning of their directorial careers.

Chen, who heads the IFFAM jury, is a “leading figure” in the Fifth Generation of Chinese cinema and the only Chinese director to have won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1993 for Farewell My Concubine. 

When asked about his experience doing his first-ever film Yellow Earth, Chen told the press, “No one wanted to see this kind of movie but I insisted, saying that I do need to talk to you guys, the head of studio, and then they were convinced.”

The 1984 film — which had cinematography by Zhang Yimou (who’d also become a famous director with Hero, House of Flying Daggers and the latest, Shadow, IFFAM’s closing film) — was made with “a little amount of money.” However, it exposed Chen to people living near the Yellow River, also known as the “mother river” of China and a setting of his film. “I was so moved by the people who lived there. They lived in poverty but they had their dignity. That was the time I fell in love with filmmaking.”

Three years later, he would participate in Cannes for the first time with King of the Children. While he recalled feeling like an “idiot” because he knew nothing of the festival, it made him feel he did something important. “People pay close attention to what you do and tell you what they really like and what they don’t… I learned experience and knew what I could do next. So, that’s the great thing. I was being encouraged to (vie) in major festivals. I hope IFFAM can do the same thing and build up a platform for the younger generation of filmmakers.”

Tanovic’s debut movie No Man’s Land immediately won awards such as the screenplay prize at the 2001 Cannes, and the 2002 Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. He said, “The first film, when you’re making it, people usually ask you how long did it take you to make it. I think the first film you’re making (it) all your life until that point. I made No Man’s Land when I was 30 and I think, I was making that film for 30 years. I really appreciate that (IFFAM) is showing first- and second-time directors.”

Chinese director and IFFAM jury president Chen Kaige (left) at a presscon moderated by festival director Mike Goodridge.

On the success of No Man’s Land, Tanovic reflected, “Being Bosnian, I don’t think I’d be having a career if I didn’t make the first film that really worked in that way... What happens when you have a first film that is good, it puts you on the spotlight. It’s not easier to make it but at least people know about you. It’s never easy to get money to make films. But at least, there are people who are interested and come and try to help you do it.”

He continued, “In my case, I wish for that matter, I’m Chinese. I was making a joke the other day. Bosnia is a small country with three million people. A bad film in China makes 50 million (entrances) just because of the sheer number of people living in this country. That also counts when coming from a small country like mine when you’re making a film. It better be something that goes around globally, otherwise you have a really reduced number of people seeing the film, especially lately with all the cinemas being closed. It’s not easy.”

How much confidence did they have as once-upon-a-time newcomers?

Cheung, who began her career in the mid-‘80s via Illegal Immigrant, her thesis film for New York University about the Chinese diaspora, recalled: “I used a non-professional cast of real immigrants from Chinatown and real gangsters from Chinatown. They never imagined that the film would be shown on the big screen. But I got 1M Hong Kong dollars from a studio, which was a lot for a student film. When I went back to New York, all my classmates came to the airport to welcome me and wanted to be in my crew. We were fearless because we had no experience and every day, we had no time limit. So, we could sit and wait for the right angle of the sun. We were free to do anything. That’s what I like about the first film that never happened to me again. As soon as you become a professional, you have a tight schedule and money runs like crazy.”

Chen, for his part, said, “I went to the Beijing Film Academy in 1978. I was in the first class after 10 years of that school without any students. We were determined to do something different from the older generations. Yes, we were very, very confident in terms of what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. Young filmmakers today would probably have the same feeling: I could do better than Chen Kaige and others (laughs).”

For Tanovic, the confidence will wear off, to be replaced by other motivations. “I wish I had that confidence now (laughs). With time, you realize how much you don’t know. You think you acquire some knowledge making films but actually you don’t,” he said.

“I think confidence over time disappears but something else comes in, which is curiosity, understanding of the world. You start to enjoy the fact that you actually don’t know. I mean, imagine if we would know, then it would be boring to make films. Each time, it’s a new journey and each time you discover a new subject. You try to deal with it in another way. Take content that you have and then try to find a form that corresponds best to that.”

Tanovic added, “There are so many beautiful stories. It’s always about describing something. Sometimes, you write your own story, sometimes you hear a story. There are no rules. God knows each of my films was different. I shot it in a different way, I did it for a different reason. There’s always a reason for me to make it. There has to be a reason to make a film; otherwise, why bother?”

The jurors agreed that the second film is going to be tough to make. “It’s very depressive actually, the second film, because I was expecting to win an Oscar after that and then somehow it didn’t happen. I didn’t know what happened to the Academy. People change. Even Cannes, I didn’t get the award the second time. It was really weird,” mused Tanovic. 

According to Chen, a successful debut makes the sophomore effort more difficult “because you’re losing something that used to support you strongly — peace. And there’s a lot of temptations around, right? People come to say that you could have more money to make this movie and you need to learn how to say no. You don’t need that amount of money. I want to continue to make good movies. But it’s a hard to say no. As a filmmaker, the most important thing to learn is to learn to say no.”

Cheung, whose second film in 1987, An Autumn’s Tale starring Chow Yun-Fat, became a box-office hit, agreed. “It’s true, especially if you win an award and your film is doing well in the box-office. They expect you to do more of the same thing. Like after Autumn’s Tale, they offered me to do Autumn’s Tale 2, 3, 4, so I have to be very certain of myself to say no because then you’re saying no to money, fame and you have to start everything from fresh, like a new director.”  

Tanovic also got an offer to do a Part 2 for his war film. “When I was in Hollywood, they offered me to make a sequel for No Man’s Land which I really found funny and I said, ‘Yeah great, pay me money! It’s gonna be the shortest film ever, and it’s gonna go boom and then everybody goes home.’ A friend of mine has this saying that I love — it’s only worth making masterpieces — and I totally agree with him. If we only knew how to make them and I think it’s really a struggle. It’s important to stay true. I’ve been working with some great actors and some people who never acted in their life, there’s always the same thing — that the film would be successful if they would be truthful, if they did it with open hearts.”

Even when a filmmaker grows in his career, Cheung believes he must always have the attitude of newcomers. The lady director observed that they have the energy, lack of burden and willingness to try. “I think we should approach every film like them. I thought after making maybe two or three more films, the problems will go away, and I will be in control and will be a very comfortable director, just sitting there and direct. But it’s not true. Every film is like the first one, they have their own problems and every time you feel like you’re going everywhere and out of control. So, I have to make sure I keep the attitude of being a first-time director.”

Filmfests that celebrate fresh talent are important, said the Australian director/producer Currie, who produced the 2016 Oscar-winning film Hacksaw Ridge directed by Mel Gibson.

Currie said, “I think it’s really important to be open to new voices and new ways of telling stories, and being supportive of the next generation. I think at festivals like (IFFAM), I love it that it’s for first- and second-time directors. They’re really at a critical time in their career, and to reach the spotlight and have a focus on them can make a huge difference.”