The "Salute to the Master" section of the Shanghai International Film Festival has been deeply loved by movie fans since its establishment in 2007. This unit plans personal special topics on well-known directors, screenwriters, actors, soundtrack composers, etc. around the world, displays their representative works, and systematically sorts them out, allowing the audience to have a more comprehensive understanding of these glorious figures in film history. Starting from 2023, the Shanghai International Film Festival has added a "Special Commemoration" unit under this unit to express our remembrance of the Chinese and foreign film masters who have left us in these years in the form of screening one work per person. This year’s “Special Commemoration” unit also includes the masterpieces of several of our beloved masters. The following is their introduction:
Lived Once a Song-Thrush (1970, Otar Iosseliani)
Highlights:
The early works of a master who coldly observed the void of time
Timpani player Gia's life is busy but boring. He often hangs out on the streets or at the homes of relatives and friends. Gia, who lacks a sense of responsibility, always rushes back to the orchestra a few minutes before the end of the performance, until an accident brings everything to an abrupt end. This early work by the Georgian film master Otta Esoriani presents the lazy, poetic feel of French cinema, but is also quite melancholy and sad. The director weakened the narrative and adopted a freer perspective to observe daily life. Gia tried to find a little meaning in the occasional joy and empty time, but in the seemingly carefree state, he was deeply trapped by no solution. The somewhat absurd accident in the end made people nervous. , it turns out that we never have real time. Horta passed away at the end of last year, and this year also coincides with his 90th birthday. The Shanghai International Film Festival pays special tribute to him with this film.
The French Connection, 1971, William Friedkin
Highlights:
Friedkin's masterpiece, the most powerful car chase in history
Two New York police officers foil a transnational heroin trade. Such a common plot has become a landmark police film and won five Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. Director William Fried Jin Zi is indispensable. He drew materials from the real experiences of anti-narcotics detectives, using the mean streets of New York as a natural stage, and using avant-garde photography and editing borrowed from European political films to create a gritty classic that redefined Hollywood's male genre. The film's aesthetics inherits the hard-boiled tradition of noir films such as "The Insider" and "Kiss Out," and its influence has spread to later masterpieces such as "The Seven Deadly Sins", "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The New Batman", and has become a benchmark in film history. The finishing touch is the car scene, which is not only a Hollywood classic that connects the past and the future, but also a time capsule that glimpses a New York that no longer exists. Friedkin passed away last year, and the Shanghai International Film Festival paid tribute to him with this film.
Hot Pursuit 4K, 1976, Junya Sato
Highlights:
The work of old friend Ken Takakura and the Chinese people
In 1978, three Japanese films, "The Hunt", "Looking Homeward" and "The Fox's Tale", were screened in China and caused a sensation at the time. Among them, "The Hunt" starring Takakura Ken was especially popular across the country. Many people have watched it more than ten times. , Takakura Ken became a national idol in one fell swoop, and also started a boom in Japanese movies in the country. The story of the film tells the story of Du Qiu, an upright prosecutor, who was framed. Knowing that he was innocent, he began to escape from the police pursuit and find out the truth in order to clear his grievances. It aroused the resonance and emotion of countless audiences at that time. The film version of this film was screened in the 2015 Shanghai International Film Festival's retrospective of Ken Takakura's works. In this special year, which marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Ken Takakura and the fifth anniversary of the death of director Junya Sato, the Shanghai Film Festival will screen Kadokawa's latest film The 4K restored version allows everyone to meet Du Qiu again on the screen, and also expresses the deepest respect for two old friends of the Chinese people. The film had its world premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
My Father, My Lord (Padre Padrone, 1977, Paolo Taviani/Vittorio Taviani)
Highlights:
The career masterpieces of the Taviani brothers
During the childhood of the director Tavigna brothers, neorealist films such as Rossellini's "The Flame of War" left a deep impression on them, and this influence continued into the creation of their works. The father-son relationship in "My Father, My Lord" is reminiscent of the father and son in "Bicycle Thieves," but the Tavernia brothers don't exactly shape the film in a neorealist vein. The protagonist Gavino's behavior against his father is not like those children in "Bicycle Thieves" and "Miracles in Milan". His rebellion is closer to those angry youths in "kitchen sink movies" such as "Angry Look Back" . In the 1970s when "My Father, My Lord" was released, the era of the neorealist film movement had come to an end. However, in such a simple film, the Tavinia brothers brought Bazin's so-called humanism in realism to the extreme. , won the Palme d'Or at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. Paolo Taviani passed away in February this year, and the Shanghai International Film Festival paid tribute to him with this film.
Swordsman (1990, Hu Jinquan)
Highlights:
Two generations of martial arts masters collide passionately to create a classic
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jin Yong, the master of martial arts novels, the Shanghai International Film Festival commemorates the generation of heroes we will always love with this adaptation of his masterpiece "The Swordsman". The film is directed by Wu Jinquan, the master of martial arts films, and the executive directors are Tsui Hark, Cheng Siu-tung, and Li Huimin, three of the new generation of martial arts filmmakers. It is precisely because of the passionate collision of two generations of masters that this classic masterpiece of new martial arts movies that combines Hu's artistic conception with Xu's fierce and free-spirited was born. It is also worth mentioning that Mr. Huang Zhan, a romantic songwriter and one of the "Four Greatest Talents in Hong Kong" together with Jin Yong, composed "A Laugh in the Sea" tailor-made for this film. It is a piece of music on earth and is still in the hearts of countless movie fans. The best theme song of Hong Kong movies. On the 20th anniversary of his death, this film also pays tribute to him.
Ticket sales for this film festival will begin at 12 noon on June 7 on the Taopiaopiao platform.
Note: If the film list changes, please refer to the actual film schedule.
