"The 90th Anniversary of the Storm" Shanghai Classics Restoration Exhibition Poster
On May 23, the "Stormy 90th Anniversary" Shanghai School Classic Restoration Exhibition officially kicked off. This film exhibition carefully selected eight Shanghai School classic films from the 1930s and 1940s, which were digitally restored to meet the audience again, leading everyone to travel through time and look back to the golden age of Shanghai School films.
Film schedule
The eight films screened this time are all the pinnacle of Chinese film narrative and artistic aesthetics. They were born in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when the cities were in turmoil, and they also witnessed the awakening of the people.
The 1935 film Sons and Daughters of Storms is set against the backdrop of the 1932 Battle of Shanghai, telling the story of the young poet Xin Baihua's growth from escaping reality to joining the war. The March of the Volunteers, written by Tian Han and composed by Nie Er, is played for the first time at the end of the film, becoming an immortal melody of the times.
"Street Angel" in 1937 depicts the plight and warmth of the lives of ordinary people in Shanghai. Zhou Xuan's "Songstress of the End of the World" and "Song of the Four Seasons" originated from here and have been passed down to this day.
"Spring in a Small Town" in 1948 is a classic work by Fei Mu. It delicately tells the emotional entanglement between the young woman Zhou Yuwen and her frail husband and her old lover, and uses the garden space to show her inner conflicts.
"Crows and Sparrows" in 1949, through the conflicts between the residents of a small building and the Kuomintang landlord, sharply satirizes the plight of people's livelihood in the war years.
In addition, there are classic works such as "Midnight Song" (1937), "Crossroads" (1937), "Long Live the Madam" (1947), and "The Sorrow of Middle Age" (1949).
Stills from Crossroads
One of the venues for this screening, Huangpu Theater, was formerly the Jincheng Theater, which opened in early 1934. Jincheng Theater once set a record of showing the domestic film "Fisherman's Song" for 84 consecutive days, the domestic film "Street Angel" had a record of nearly 100,000 viewers, and the premiere of my country's first sound film "The Peach and the Plum". Therefore, it is known as the "Palace of Domestic Films". Many domestic films premiere in this theater, and the premiere of "Children of the Storm", which will be screened first at this film festival, was also held here.
Advertisement of "Children of Storm" published in Shenbao
According to Tang Weijie, a professor at the School of Humanities of Tongji University and a film scholar, these old Shanghai film copies and materials were collected by the Film Archive in Beijing in the 1950s. This year coincides with the 120th anniversary of the birth of Chinese film, which is a "double centenary". "With this opportunity, these restored old films are like 'returning home'."
The old movies that returned to Shanghai this time have all been digitally restored. "These old movies, such as "Children of Storms", are 90 years old. The film has been repeatedly developed and printed, and the film itself has a preservation limit. In the past, the preservation method was to use new film to make a copy, but each copy still has loss. Now digital restoration can overcome these shortcomings. The defects on the original copy, such as snow, can be repaired, so the image quality is very good now."
In Tang Weijie's opinion, this film festival is very meaningful as it brings together the best films from the 1930s and 1940s in Chinese film history. "Young people can take this opportunity to learn about old movies. Many audiences under 30 years old probably have few opportunities to see these movies in theaters." Tang Weijie suggested that Shanghai could have a special venue in the future to loop and screen important films in the history of Shanghai and Chinese films.
During the film festival, a variety of activities were arranged at the two major screening venues, Huangpu Theater and Heping Cinema. For example, professional stage actors will perform impromptu performances on the spot to restore the key moment when Nie Er created the national anthem, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in the story behind the birth of the national anthem. Tang Weijie revealed that before the screenings of "Long Live the Wife" and "Sadness and Joy in Middle Ages" in June, Li Yizhong, the son of director Sang Hu and professor of Shanghai Jiaotong University, will give a guided tour to the audience. It is worth mentioning that there is a child star in "Sadness and Joy in Middle Ages" who was only 8 years old at the time and is now over 80 years old. He will also come to the scene to communicate with the audience, which will be a very precious review and narration of the film by an eyewitness.
Activities
In addition, there are fun activities such as the "Shanghai Style Movie Scene Experience" interactive check-in, ticket stub treasure hunt and linkage with time-honored brands, as well as "Shanghai Style Thrilling Night" where tickets can be exchanged for admission tickets and customized drinks.
The "90 Years of Wind and Cloud" Shanghai Classic Restoration Exhibition is not only a film screening, but also an affectionate look back at the glorious history of Shanghai-style films and a cultural dialogue across time and space. The film festival has opened this weekend, and we look forward to the audience going to the cinema to enjoy this feast of light and shadow and appreciate the timeless charm of Shanghai-style classic films.
