last summer without homework before he heads to junior secondary
school. The film is set around the real Zhang’s own neighbourhood in
Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In the
film, as in real life, the neighbourhood is going through huge changes
caused by the privatisation of State-owned enterprises. The boy’s fa-
ther, a filmmaker at a State-backed studio, is moving to another city in
search of better job opportunities. His mother, a philosophy teacher,
also worries about her son’s studies and future, racking her brains for
a way to squeeze him into a reputable school.
There are no significant conflicts in the film and the plot flows
naturally. Zhang wanted to present it as an ode to the end of an era
he had experienced himself. During the premiere, when the words
“dedicated to the generation that birthed ours” appeared in the end
of the film, Zhang glanced at his father who silently stood up and
disappeared into the foyer. His father listened to the words of his son
outside with tears in his eyes.
The father in the film eventually lost his job and was a bit depressed.
In real life, Zhang’s father, Zhang Jianhua, was a film editor at the
Inner Mongolian Film Studio and was a laureate of the Best Film
Technology award of the Huabiao Film Awards in 1995, and the Best
Editing award at the 16th Golden Rooster Awards in 1996 for the
film The Sorrow of Brook Steppe.
Zhang Dalei, who was born and grew up in a courtyard home that
was part of the studio, gained access to a variety of films worldwide,
including many films from Hong Kong. Zhang Jianhua made a de-
liberate effort to give his son a chance to experience the culture he’d
been shut out from as a child.
“Our generation’s way of thinking was rigid and it was very hard for
us to jump out of the old mindset,” Zhang Jianhua told ChinaReport.
Zhang Dalei conceived of the film in 2008, and spent a long time
looking for investment, but was snubbed everywhere he tried. His
father put together several hundred thousand yuan, the family’s entire
savings, to help him make the film, which was shot in just a month
using non-professional actors. After it was shot, Zhang spent two
months editing it. On a visit to Inner Mongolia from Beijing, his
parents insisted on seeing the film.
During the first two hours, his parents were discussing the details of
the film but after a while a silence descended. His father kept sighing
and his mother was staring at him. “I knew I had disappointed them.
That night, my father had to head back to Beijing and I called a cab
for him without saying a word. My mother stayed a few more days
and I texted them and asked them not to call me for the next two
months,” Zhang told our reporter.
Zhang shut off his mobile phone and began a dialogue with him-
self. He filmed himself sitting in a chair and kept asking questions.
Then he filmed himself answering all these questions in hope of find-
ing a satisfactory answer. He showed these video clips to the screen-
writer, who was moved to tears. Zhang saw the silver lining and hishope rekindled.
After that, Zhang began to communicate with his father and re-
ceived a lot of advice from him. “My father is a very experienced film
editor and kept reminding me not to present too much information
in the film because the audience needs some space for its imagina-
tion,” Zhang said. “After the film is completed, he may have a differ-
ent perspective to me. As a father, I think he does not need to worry
about me anymore.”Nostalgia
The film’s slogan is “Watch it like it’s the 1990s.” Zhang says that
the Chinese film industry has been enriched by a growing number of
film elements and genres since the end of the 1980s. But he adds that
at that time the public was rarely exposed to entertainment and there
was a sense of ritual when watching a film, but nowadays the feeling
has gone forever.
“That’s the way it goes. Everyone is so busy nowadays and they are
occupied with too many things,” said Zhang Chen, who played the
role of the father in the film.
Since its release, the film has been critically acclaimed by both the
critics and the audience – even though the entire cast are non-profes-
sional players and are Zhang’s friends. Kong Weiyi, the boy who plays
the main role, also picked up the Best New Performer award at the
53rd Golden Horse Film Award.
In the film, scenes of people bursting into songs popped up several
times. Zhang recounted that when he was a child, people usually sat
in the courtyard in summer and old ladies played poker. People also
sang, recited poems or put on impromptu plays nearby. It was a time
when people who loved art could express themselves naturally and
boldly and nobody would consider it strange.
“Art, literature and poetry were widely popular at that time but now
it needs some guts to say that because it’s easy to mock. It is such a sad
story,” Zhang said.
Zhang’s next work is a sequel of the film, set in 2000, in which the
protagonist has grown up and lives a wandering life. He said it is a
homage to the French director Francois Truffaut, and his recurring
character of Antoine Doinel, whose story spans a 20 year period over
several films.
During the dinner after the 53rd Golden Horse Film Awards,
famed Hong Kong director Ann Hui who was heading the festival
jury, came closer and fished out her mobile phone to take a picture
with Zhang. Another revered director also told Zhang to keep calm
and not to hasten his pace to churn out works quickly because it
would affect his judgment.
“It is easy for me to follow the so-called right way pointed out by
others and it would make it complex when I decided to deal with
things in my own way. However, I will stick to my own way and try
to be simple and innocent,” he said.A scene from the film The Summer is Gone