C ULTURE
W
hen Zhang Dalei heard that his debut film The Summer
is Gone had won the Best Feature Film award at the 53rd
Golden Horse Film Awards in Taipei, Taiwan on No-
vember 26, 2016, he was caught off guard. The 35-year-old director
was still chewing gum when he received the trophy; the gum stayed in
his pocket during his acceptance speech. He’d already had a moment
of hope earlier, for the Best New Director award he was shortlisted
for. When that award went to someone else, he relaxed, thinking that
was it for the night – until his name was spoken again.
Zhang’s style, like his films, is nostalgic; he dresses in a vintage rain-
coat and leather boots in daily life. His film’s posters are done in the
style of the 1990s, when Chinese society transformed. The film is full
of the sound of bicycle wheels, the voices of street peddlers, the chirp-
ing of birds and the eerie sound of owls hooting at night.
“I didn’t know what sorrow was back in the 1990s, and I only re-
membered that I wanted to cry but tears wouldn’t flow. Those days, I
found it hard to express my feelings, but nowadays is the right time,”he said.
When Zhang started to prepare for the film in 2008, he decided
to make it black and white in remembrance of the past. Zhang said
what motivated him to shoot the film was a daydream he had at the
home of his grandmother in August 2008. He sat in an armchair,
then fell asleep and heard voices from all around in his dream from
when he was a small child. After waking up, he decided to turn the
dream into a film.
He said the biggest challenge to finish the work was to always stay
sober and sane and be fully aware of what he really wants to present.
The day when the film was completed, he said it was like a “tumor had
been removed from my body.” Zhang says he has a one-track mind,
and could think of nothing else while the film was being made.Father And Son
The plot of the film revolves around the main character Zhang
Xiaolei, 12, a representative of the filmmaker himself as a child. It’s hisAward-winning Film
Art of the Past
Director Zhang Dalei’s debut film portraits an innocent childhood summer in the
context of China’s dramatic economic transition
By Li Xing
A scene from the film The Summer is Gone