To recognize commenting being restored on Chinese microblogging sites, we’ve once again rounded up some of our filmmaker’s micro-dispatches on Sina Weibo, China’s version of twitter. This month, some of China’s preeminent indie filmmakers weigh in on politics, international indie film, and funny hats:
On 4/7, Zhao Liang, director of Crime and Punishment, blogged:
This is my dream: I hope that China’s next generation of directors can – in any theater, in any film – say whatever is in their heart without fear. Our generation of filmmakers is working hard with the hope that the next generation will be free from fear.
The director of Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul, Though I Am Gone, and The East Wind State Farm, Hu Jie posted the cartoon to the right on 2/14 with the caption: Citizen! Choice! Cartoon! Wisdom!
From Hu Jie's weibo account
Fascism is a philosophy, rather than a course of action. The bad behavior we see is all driven by ideology. Any pursuit of unity of thought will certainly lead to violence and compulsive behavior. Violence is not strictly a characteristic of fascism, but a characteristic of singular thought. For instance, Chinese Confucianism is not fascism, but a singular branch of thought. It is only when outsiders are punished that violence ensues.
Cui Zi’en, director of Queer China, Comrade China and one of China’s most outspoken advocates of Queer rights, blogged on 4/3:
In China, political neutrality = supporting the one-party system. Homosexuality is neither legal nor illegal =is not supported by the law.
Disorder director Huang Weikai wrote on 3/11:
Harvey [Weinstein] has made a lot of good films, but also destroyed a lot of good films with his daring scissors. His edits to Farewell My Concubine really angered Louis Malle. This behavior is really brutal and sneaky. He can be really threatening with a younger generation of directors, but can even drive people like Martin Scorcese to the edge of sanity. If you read the book “Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film,” you get a real taste of this demonic flavor.
Xu Tong, the director of Fortune Teller, blogged on 4/3:
To open or not to open? To shoot or not to shoot? Initially, the world seems so quiet and peaceful, but people want to make distinctions and oppositions; no one is willing to wait for the other. This is how power is granted. Actually, the original world is the world of “opposites.”
On the lighter side of the weibo-sphere, Meishi Street director Ou Ning posted the following photo of himself on 4/7, saying:
I forgot that I once had this hat. This is from a few years ago in Yunnan on Sun Zhou’s film Zhou Yu’s Train.
Ou Ning tagged the photo "artistic youth"