What were the starting points and initial ideas behind Codolences?
The car accident in Wei Wen happened in 2004, of which I am one of the witnesses. The accident is still etched in my memory. However I didn't immediately cinematize this experience, which might not have been a respectful gesture towards those lost lives. It wasn't untill the end of 2007 that I considered it was the time for us to revisit the place and reflect upon the whole accident and then I finished the script. My short got finalized after a long time. In June last year I finished the editing. In a sense this short is a mini-monument about what has happened.
Could you maybe share an important/funny/moving/surprising anecdote related to the making-of the film?
It took a whole day for my cast to rehearse, and another whole day for shooting. Because nothing could go wrong in this long-take and any imperfection needed us to restart all over again, it seemed everybody on the set was driven crazy by me!
What do you do when not making films?
I am lucky, since I have been able to keep my pace of life and focus on my script -writing by living on the awards money and film funds of my previous works. Two years ago I started to be an indie film festival's programme director and several months ago, I started teaching at a film school.
What would you like to say to your audience before seeing Condolences?
I am quite happy that coming back to IFFR with my short! One thing I like about short films is that people usually pay less attention to this genre, so that I could keep low-profile here. I would continue shooting shorts.
What are you currently working on?
Last year I finished a feature film which is also inspired by that accident; but this film is kind of a mixture of fiction and documentary. I indeed want to commemorate the accident in a complete form. The editing isn't finalized yet; I want to finish the job before 2010 is over.
Another feature film of mine is funded by HBF, which was supposed to start shooting last year but was delayed. This year I must start shooting, otherwise the HBF folks might kill me!!!
(translator: Ma Ran)