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INTERVIEW WITH TODA AKIHIRO

TODA Akihiro, director, The Name

Which was your inspiration for the story?

First of all, I did not write the story myself, it is based on a novel by Michio Shusuke. There was a collaboration with the author, who then had the idea to turn it into a movie.  The whole story is taken from that. Personally, I was interested in directing the film since I was really intrigued by the relationship between the two main characters.

Which were the aspects you found interesting in that relationship and which was your approach to it?

They are very different, one point being their age difference, for example, and very interesting characters. They are both searching for their identity: Nakamura Masao has lost his identity and is trying to claim it back, while his daughter, Hayama Emiko, is still trying to establish hers. Emiko avoids telling the man that she is his daughter. The story does not develop aggressively, and a comfortable relationship develops between them, thanks to the relaxed atmosphere and the common purpose they share.

Please could you tell us a bit about the actors?

The actor who plays Nakamura Masao is a veteran actor, so I entrusted him with the interpretation of the character. The actress who plays Emiko is a newcomer with no prior experience. We did some rehearsals and in the end I asked her to give a natural, understated performance. Usually, when I write a script I tend to adapt the characters to the personalities of the actors. But this time the script was already written, so the casting was of fundamental importance. I had to find the right chemistry between the characters and at the end I chose these two people, with their different personalities, and I put them together to create something new.

Maddalena Bignù – FEFF Editorial Staff

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INTERVIEW WITH DING SHENG

DING Sheng, director, A Better Tomorrow 2018

Why did you remake A Better Tomorrow? What was the experience like?

I got this chance about a year ago when the rights of A Better Tomorrow where acquired from the rights owner. The original film was a great inspiration for me, so I did not want to give up this opportunity. The greatest obstacle was that I wanted find a way pay homage to the original film, but at the same time, I also wanted to create something new, because I wanted my film to be different from the first one.

Which are the differences between A Better Tomorrow and A Better Tomorrow 2018?

At the core of it, both my version and the original are about human relationships, which I think is the most striking similarity between the two films. I preserved the feeling of brotherhood, but by changing the most emblematic scenes, I changed the way of expressing that feeling. Personally, I saw A Better Tomorrow when I was sixteen and I was influenced by the film’s full-blooded passion, but I didn’t want the remake to be that violent. I wanted to convey different values. That for me is the greatest difference between the two films. I also think that every person has their own style. For example, I love using handheld cameras, so despite the fact that it isn’t used very much in the original version, I used this technique nonetheless to recreate certain scenes and frames from the original A Better Tomorrow.

Please could you tell us a bit about the cast and locations used in A Better Tomorrow 2018?

Of the two lead actors, I had already worked with on one of them in Railroad Tigers (2016). For the supporting role, I trusted myself to make the right choice. I had always wanted my film to be different from the original, so I made it with young people in mind, rather than trying to please fans of A Better Tomorrow.

Back in the days when the first film was shot, printing counterfeit bank notes was the big business in the criminal world. Now the focus has shifted to smuggling goods, particularly drugs, which often enter the country by sea, so this informed my choice of the shooting location.

Maddalena Bignù – FEFF Editorial Staff

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INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTORS OF FRESH WAVE PROGRAMME

YEH Ka-lun, director, Fresh Wave: Bright Spring Days / HO Chung-ken, director, Fresh Wave: Fires / LAM Hei-chun, director, Fresh Wave: Goodbye

Please could you tell us a bit about your experience here at Far East Film Festival and about your short films?

Ho Chung-ken: This is the first festival I’ve attended, so everything is new and exciting. It is fantastic and my short film was well-received by the audience. After this experience, I would like to continue making films, whether they are shorts or features. The most precious thing Fresh Wave program gave me is encouragement: being a director is hard, there are many struggles, especially if you want to tell a story that is close to your own experience.  My short is Fires and it tells the story of a young actor who is struggling in his career. Family plays a really important role in the film. I chose not to discuss social issues in a direct fashion, but to do so using a more intimate point of view. When you consider family relationships you can focus on emotions, actions and behaviors and question the reasons behind these, and by discussing these relationships, you are also able to reflect on other subjects, such as politics and others. From the artistic point of view, I chose to give my short film I a dream-like atmosphere because I think cinema has some sort of magic, and I wanted that to show in my film.

Yeh Ka-lun: My short film is Bright Spring Days and it tells the story of a middle-aged woman, who works as a singer of traditional music, and her son. As you can see, family is an important theme of my short, too. I think that in depicting family struggles, you can also deal with important emotions and different kind of issues. The idea for this story was born when I found out about the background of those traditional singers and of middle-aged women in general in Hong Kong. Some things you see in the film are the result of what I saw and experienced and other things are taken from what my friends and other people told me.  I will definitely try to learn more about the people of Hong Kong in the future. I think the festival is great and I really like Udine, it is a beautiful city, and I was really happy with the audience reactions to the film.  Also, I loved Fresh Wave program so much: I think that in a lifetime there are not so many chances, so I treasure this opportunity a lot.

Lam Hei-chun: The atmosphere of the festival was really nice for me, too. I really appreciated the audience response to my short film. I am surprised that here in Italy people love Asian films so much and I believe this is a great opportunity for us. I am really happy with Fresh Wave. I shot mainly documentaries in the past, so I did not think I would have the chance to come here. In Hong Kong, there are few opportunities, so I am grateful for this chance. I will try to shoot more films in the future. The story of Goodbye is based on my personal experience, since my dad died when I was at university. Family is a really important theme for me, I am interested in showing how relationships are affected when people face struggles. Casting was a very interesting process: I auditioned many girls for the role of the little girl, but in the end I chose a friend’s daughter. I saw her photos on Facebook and I noticed she had a very thoughtful face. She was the right one for the role, so I cast her with her parents’ blessing.

Maddalena Bignù – FEFF Editorial Staff

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Maggie Cheung & Tony Leung publicity still for “In the mood for love”

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