A poster of the Mulan International Film Festival. /Photo via MULANIFF's official website
The second Mulan International Film Festival (MULANIFF) dedicated to Chinese cinema will premiere on August 9 in Toronto, Canada. The event goes until August 17 and includes 21 movies divided into four categories. Emerging talents, women's role in films and gender issues are some of the themes that will cover at the event.
According to the festival website, MULANIFF aims to showcase the best of Chinese-language films and historically significant films about China, cultivating the appreciation of Chinese cinema across Canadian communities.
Shen Wei, artistic director, told CGTN Digital that the festival was founded in 2018 by seven University of Toronto alumni, including herself. At that time, all of them were less than 30 years old with no professional experience in cinema. They met each other through the student-run organization UTChinese Network.
In 2017, Shen and executive director Tom Wang came up with the idea of organizing a film festival dedicated to Chinese language films in a casual conversation. By that time, she had quit her job as a financial analyst and decided to apply in film schools.
Artistic director Shen Wei /Courtesy of UTChinese
"When Tom and I were chatting about the film festivals we had frequented, and the difficulty of becoming a director, particularly as an Asian female with no connections, Tom joked that maybe you could start a film festival, so at least there would be one for you to showcase your future works," Shen said, adding that this was the seed of the festival, and all other colleagues agreed to take on the challenge.
When it was time to name the festival, the group wanted something historical with modern implications, easy to pronounce, and that served both the Chinese and non-Chinese communities. Mulan was a suggestion by co-founder Amy Chen.
"There were concerns about the interpretations of the legendary female warrior, how people would perceive her choice - was it out of courage, filial piety or patriarchy?"
In the end, it was decided to "just focus on bringing new meanings to the name."
Celebrating female directors
A scene from the film "Red Flowers and Green Leaves" by director Liu Miaomiao. /Photo via MULANIFF's official website
Shen explained that when the name was chosen it was not intended to be interpreted as an emphasis on women. However, looking at the program one category related to the female role stood out "Lili vs. Leviathan."
"Lili (莉莉) is a popular, gentle Chinese name for girls. Leviathan, in this context, represents a body that controls all resources. "Lili vs. Leviathan" is quite self-explanatory. According to the data, in 2018, of 250 films produced in the U.S. only eight percent were directed by female directors," Shen noted.
The director wants to celebrate female directors and emerging directors. "I want to give them the greatest trust and encouragement that I want to be given."
This unit has five movies, including "Red Flowers and Green Leaves" by Liu Miaomiao that tells the story of a newlywed couple, brought together by an arranged marriage; "The Goddess" by Wu Yonggang, with the legendary actress Ruan Lingyu, of the Chinese cinema's silent films era.
Ruan Lingyu in the film "The Goddess," which is considered one of her best performances. /Photo via MULANIFF's official website
Another program that catches the eye, is "Yin and Yang," dedicated to films that reflect on social issues related to gender and identity. "Gender identity and equality are the zeitgeist of our times. We are responding to the current of the international film festival circuit," said Shen, mentioning that the city of Toronto is inspiring in the way it advocates for diversity and dignity.
"Yin and Yang" features, for example, "East Palace, West Palace" by Zhang Yuan, and "Spring Fever" by director Lou Ye. The 2009 movie, "Spring Fever," that tells a story of jealousy and obsession, lust and love without limits, won an award for the best screenplay at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival.
"I wanted to reflect on China's socio-cultural changes since the early 20th century from various perspectives, including education, environmental protection, gender equality, and social values. I wanted to see how China was modernized, how today's China is connected to its past. This has become the China Retrospective program."
This year, the China Retrospective includes Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor," Fei Mu's "Spring in a Small Town" and Jia Zhangke's "Xiao Wu (The Pickpocket)."
A scene from the film "Xiao Wu (The Pickpocket)" by director Jia Zhangke / Photo via MULANIFF's official website
"With such a long and rich history and culture, China boasts such mesmerizing complexities and uniqueness. It is just impossible to tell a full story with one or a few aspects," the director noted.
According to Shen, "even in Canada, where a considerable percentage of the population has a Chinese cultural background, the image of China in high school curriculum is almost entirely about China in its 1960s-80s," adding that some students of Chinese ethnic backgrounds struggle with their cultural identity, because it's hard for them to relate to what they are taught in schools and where they live, and it's not something that is widely discussed.
"We wanted to address this by curating the films in our own way. Co-founder Promise Xu proposed a tagline: Seeing China, one film at a time," she said.
The festival is organized by volunteers. /Photo via MULANIFF's official website
For this year's festival, Shen and the team are aiming at raising the number of attendees with no Chinese background from 10 percent to 20 percent, because normally only around five percent of the participants are non-Chinese. In activities related to Japanese or Indian cultures that percentage can get close to 50 percent.
On the other hand, the festival wants to act more as an incubator for new filmmakers. For this reason, the opening film is "The Little Shrimp," the debut feature and master thesis project of Chen Zhilin. The "Fountainhead" program in which this film is included has another eight movies by young talents.
According to the 2018 Festival Impact Report, in eight days 4,500 people saw 18 movies. Online marketing registered a combined reach of 325,000 viewers and 846,000 impressions, through social platforms, including WeChat. The total audience reached was 97.3 million.
Copyright © 2018 CGTN. Beijing ICP prepared NO.16065310-3
Copyright © 2018 CGTN. Beijing ICP prepared NO.16065310-3