Fengming, a Chinese Memoir

Infobox Film
name = Fengming, a Chinese Memoir
director = Wang Bing
producer = Kong Lihong
Louise Prince
writer =
starring = He Fengming
cinematography = Wang Bing
editing = Adam Kerby
distributor =
released = flagicon|France 18 May 2007 (Cannes)
flagicon|Canada 7 September 2007 (TIFF)
flagicon|Japan 5 October 2007 (YIDFF)
runtime = 184 min.
country = flagcountry|China
flagcountry|Hong Kong
flagcountry|Belgium
language = Mandarin
music =
awards =
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:398846
imdb_id = 1032880

"Fengming, a Chinese Memoir" (zh-stp|s=和凤鸣|t=和鳳鳴|p=Hé Fèngmíng), also known as "Chronicle of a Chinese Woman", is a 2007 Chinese documentary film directed by Wang Bing. The film consists almost entirely of an interview with the elderly He Fengming, recounting her experiences in post-1949 China.

Plot

Caught up the fervor of the Chinese Revolution, He abandoned her plans to study at university and took a job at the "Gansu Daily" newspaper. Her husband, fellow journalist Wang Jingchao, wrote several critical essays at the height of the Hundred Flowers Campaign. With the launch of the subsequent Anti-Rightist Movement, Wang was attacked for these statements, and He was condemned by association. The two were sent to separate labor camps, where Wang eventually died. cite web|url=http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=cannes2007&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117933694&cs=1 |title=Fengming: A Chinese Memoir |accessdate=2008-05-03 |last=Koehler |first=Robert |date=2007-05-20 |work=Variety ] He Fengming was released, briefly imprisoned again during the Cultural Revolution, cite web|url=http://www.longpauses.com/blog/2007/09/tiff-days-1-and-2.html |title=TIFF, Days 1 and 2 |accessdate=2008-05-03 |last=Hughes |first=Darren |date=2007-09-07 |work=Long Pauses ] and finally rehabilitated. In the early 1990s she published a memoir, "My Life in 1957". cite web|url=http://www.cinema-scope.com/cs31/int_koehler_wangbing.html |title=Ghost Stories: Wang Bing's Startling New Cinema |accessdate=2008-05-03 |last=Koehler |first=Robert |date=June 2007 |work=Cinema Scope ]

Production

Wang Bing first met He in 1995 cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/55485.html |title=Out of Competition - Special Screening: "He Fengming, Chronicle of a Chinese Woman" by Wang Bing |accessdate=2008-05-03 |date=May 2007 |publisher=Cannes International Film Festival ] and interviewed her in the course of research for his second feature (after 2003's ""). After receiving a commission from the Kunsten Festival des Arts, Wang decided to record He's story, resulting in a 50- and then a 130-minute film. After the Festival, Wang went back and conducted an additional interview, bringing the film to its final three-hour running time. The director employed an unusually stripped-down style, relying mainly a single camera set-up cite web|url=http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=cannes2007&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117933694&cs=1 |title=Fengming: A Chinese Memoir |accessdate=2008-05-03 |last=Koehler |first=Robert |date=2007-05-20 |work=Variety ] with only the occasional cut or dissolve. cite web|url=http://www.longpauses.com/blog/2007/09/tiff-days-1-and-2.html |title=TIFF, Days 1 and 2 |accessdate=2008-05-03 |last=Hughes |first=Darren |date=2007-09-07 |work=Long Pauses ]

The full-length version premiered, out of competition, at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It subsequently played the international festival circuit, winning the Grand Prize at the 2007 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. cite web|url=http://www.yidff.jp/2007/info/07comments-e.html |title=Award Recipients: Jury Comments |accessdate=2008-05-03 |date=October 2007 |publisher=Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival ]

References

External links

* [http://www.navarra.es/home_es/Temas/Turismo+ocio+y+cultura/Actividades+culturales/Espectaculos/PuntodeVista/Edicion+2008/Otras+secciones/La+region+central/documentales.htm?id=203&pelicula=1 "Fengming, a Chinese Memoir"] at the Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival
* [http://www.tiff07.ca/filmsandschedules/filmdetails.aspx?id=705302255291386 "Fengming, a Chinese Memoir"] at the Toronto International Film Festival
* [http://www.viff.org/tixSYS/2007/filmguide/eventnote.php?notepg=1&EventNumber=0968 "Fengming: A Chinese Memoir'] at the Vancouver International Film Festival
* [http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4405074.html "He Fengming"] at the Cannes Film Festival
* [http://www.kunstenfestivaldesarts.be/archief/2006/en/projectdetail.action-projectid=12667&id=.htm "He Fengming"] at the Kunsten Festival des Arts