On June 20, the film "Sui Sui Ping An", which was shortlisted for the Asian Newcomer unit of this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, held its world premiere.

The film tells the story of teacher Li Mei who was forced to send her daughter Suisui to a distant relative due to her father-in-law's preference for boys over girls and the balance of interests of her natal family. Later, she gave birth to a son Ping'an, but was diagnosed with leukemia a few years later. In order to match her son's bone marrow transplant, Li Mei embarked on a journey to find her daughter. When they met again, Li Mei lied that she was her aunt because of her guilt. The mother and daughter tested and used each other... The director used the story of looking for a daughter, which has the core of social news, to show many social problems such as preference for boys over girls, discrimination against women in the workplace, and bullying on campus.

Stills from "Peace Every Year"

"White Clouds and Dark Dogs", a collaboration between Zang Lianrong and Xu Ruogu, was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Actor at the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival Asian Newcomer Awards. Their new film "Peaceful Years" was nominated for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress.

The main creative staff at the meeting.

The pain of an era that favors boys over girls

At the Asian Newcomer Crew Meeting, Zang Lianrong told the media about a memorable fable he had heard when he was young - a teenager suddenly picked up a gun on a road one day. He picked it up and fired at the opposite side, but no one was injured. Many years later, the teenager became a middle-aged man. One day, he was walking on the road and suddenly heard a commotion behind him. He turned around and a bullet hit him right between his eyebrows.

"This passage left a very deep impression on me, and it even lasted throughout my entire adolescence. I think the explanation of fate is particularly accurate."

Director Zang Lianrong

In the movie, Liu Weirui plays Li Mei and her husband, who once fired the gun. In this family that has faced the choice of fate again after twists and turns, the daughter Sui Sui who was sent away chooses to put down the gun. "Our story tells the choice made by a girl when facing a life with a sense of destiny." Director Zang Lianrong said, "The girl played by (Duan) Aojuan wants to tell the audience a story. In the two choices of two generations, the mother made her choice. Will Sui Sui still do the same thing as before, or stop fighting? This is what we want to express in the movie."

Liu Weirui as Li Mei

The film's creative team is mainly male, and through their different life experiences, they have developed an understanding of the situation of women. Liu Fan, the screenwriter and producer of the film, once heard her grandfather say in front of everyone at his "goddaughter's" birthday party that he would give her parents 1 million yuan if they had another son. "This incident touched me deeply, and I especially wanted to reflect on a long-term, but enduring issue, that is, gender."

As a "Shandong man", Zang Lianrong admitted that he "could not get into the situation" at first. But in the process of preparing the film, his daughter was born, "I suddenly found that the world had changed, and my understanding and identification with women had completely changed. Everything was substituted. Now when I see similar news, I feel particularly painful and uncomfortable, because I will unconsciously put myself in the shoes of my own child."

Coupled with meeting Duan Aojuan, the natural feeling of "becoming one" with the character gave him the confidence and determination to make the film more complete.

Duan Aojuan (center) speaking

I hope the audience thinks it is a good movie.

The independent, brave and rebellious girl played by new generation actor and former member of Rocket Girls 101 Duan Aojuan is dazzling. From her eccentricity in the early stage to her heart-wrenching struggle in the later stage, the sensitivity, stubbornness and eccentricity of the adolescent girl are displayed vividly and naturally.

Talking about her feelings about filming a movie for the first time, Duan Aojuan admitted that the biggest challenge of the film was, "First of all, I am not a professional actor. This is my first time participating in a film project. At the beginning, I had no concept of movies and didn't know what was right or wrong." But she also said that when she first saw the script in 2022, she already had a very high sense of identification with Sui Sui and a very complete imagination of Sui Sui's image. Duan Aojuan, who had previously performed in musicals, said that starring in "Sui Sui Ping An" gave her an unprecedented deep understanding of the character and made her understand acting better.

Duan Aojuan as Sui Sui

Professor Shi Chuan from Shanghai Theatre Academy expressed his love for the film after the screening. "It tells a story of reconciliation, not just the reconciliation between mother and daughter, but also a reconciliation between today's Chinese society and the past and history."

Ishikawa believes that the film cuts into China's long-standing problems from a very novel and specific angle, and then radiates to a broader historical interface. Regarding Sui Sui's choice, he believes that "in the past, we were poor, and faced many unsolvable problems in life. In the course of time, new and old, traditional and modern things are piled up and entangled together, so many things, in reality, cannot be solved. At this time, we need to be tolerant and use love to resolve the resentment of the past."

Talking about his feelings about being selected twice as a director, Zang Lianrong said that when he was selected in 2019, he shot an "art film" and "did a lot of artistic exploration. I think there were too many techniques." When it came to his second feature film, he hoped to make a "very sincere and pure film from content to form." "I hope it is a film that does not have such a high threshold for viewing, and brings some commercial elements into it. A good movie will give the audience a strong sense of substitution. I don't think this movie has any techniques. Sincerity is the killer."