Spring is here, and the tide is coming. After roadshows in Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Nanjing, the movie "Tide" held its premiere in Beijing on March 6. Director Wan Bo, producer Huang Junyan, starring Wang Zheng and Chen Yunong, and executive director Wang Kaixuan appeared at the post-screening meeting to share the behind-the-scenes story of "Tide" and had in-depth exchanges with experts and audiences on site. The film will be officially released on the National Art Federation's special line on March 11.
Lead actors Chen Yunong (left) and Wang Zheng (right) took a photo with director Wan Bo
"Tide" tells the story of the people of Shadi who grew up on the banks of the Qiantang River and who, after repeated failures, still hold on to hope and build embankments to block the tides in order to protect the only remaining arable land. The film, with its poetic visual aesthetics, constructs an epic of land creation with Jiangnan characteristics.
Poster of Tide
Talking about the original intention of focusing on the grand historical background of Hangzhou Xiaoshan reclamation, director Wan Bo said that what touched him most during the early research was the ordinariness of the "fathers". "In the grand history of reclamation involving hundreds of thousands of people, the names of small individuals will not be recorded. It is this contrast that makes me reflect, and I also hope that more people can touch this history through images."
Producer Huang Junyan said that "Tide" is a very brave film. "On the one hand, this is the first attempt to film the theme of reclamation. During the real-life shooting, the fierce tide brought thrilling challenges again and again; on the other hand, this is also the first time that teachers and students of Zhejiang Media College have bravely tried to make a theater movie. Together, we broke the boundary between theory and practice. Our Film Channel Hangzhou Base hopes to use this artistic film as a starting point to connect with more creators with a spirit of exploration and provide a bigger stage for their film works."
Huang Junyan, producer and general manager of the Hangzhou base of the Film Channel
Lead actor Wang Zheng portrayed the image of a generation of tenacious reclamation workers in Tide. At the premiere, he modestly said that although he was a "son-in-law of Hangzhou", he regretted not being able to fully present the character's dialect. "During the film creation process, I have been using my imagination to get close to and find the atmosphere of the year, hoping to better pass on this reclamation spirit."
Young actor Chen Yunong, who is starring in a movie for the first time, admitted that he was very nervous about meeting the audience with "Tide". During the filming, what impressed him most was the director's trust in him. "The director said that he knew I was Jiang Pingyuan the moment he saw me, which gave me great encouragement. I remember there was a scene in front of the campfire. The script didn't have much dialogue, but the director hoped that I could play it and gave me a lot of reference materials. I also read "Fu Lei's Family Letters" to experience the way fathers and sons communicated in that era."
Previously, the film "Tide" had appeared in the Chinese New Style Unit of the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival and the National Film Promotion Conference of the 2024 Hengdian Film Festival. At the premiere, many experts, scholars and industry guests also came to support the film and expressed their respective viewing feelings.
Sun Chengjian, deputy director and researcher of the Institute of Film and Television of the Chinese Academy of Arts, believes that "Tide" has a strong cultural regionality, profound character emotions, a texture with great historical depth and poetic aesthetic characteristics. "Although this is a low-budget film, the overall visual presentation is very grand. In the future, there may be more and more small and medium-cost films in China, and Director Wan Bo has set a very good example."
Director Liu Taifeng said frankly that he could not suppress his emotions several times while watching the film: "I have also lived in Hangzhou and by the Qiantang River for many years. I know how fierce and surging it is, and I know how prosperous life is now. It is the accumulation and hard work of our predecessors that allows us to enjoy the hard-earned good life."
Poster of Tide
Documentary director Wang Jiuliang has always been concerned about ecological issues. He said: "Just like the waxing and waning of the moon and the ebb and flow of the tide, nature has its own laws of change. In the past, domestic films did not describe much about ecology and nature. The creation of Tide fills the gap in recent years." Xu Bin, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy, pointed out, "Everyone has moments of despair, but this moment may move us and inexplicably generate a kind of power. This is due to the sense of faith established by the creators of Tide. They are using sincerity and true heart to maintain the dignity of the film."
An audience member was very interested in the regional characteristics such as dialects and folk songs shown in "Tide". Director Wan Bo said that this was also what he paid most attention to when creating the film. "I hope that the audio-visual art of the film can reflect the distinct regional characteristics, such as the low saturation, gray-blue and moist feeling of the Jiangnan region in the 1950s. The dialect was also chosen after repeated hesitation. For the locals, it is a cultural memory, and its value is far greater than the work itself."
Stills from Tide
