The Ang Lee Masterclass of the 10th BJIFF was held on the morning of August 25, during which Ang Lee shared with film fans his journey as a filmmaker and extended his firm support for filmmaking professionals in such a tough time.

　　Audience on the site expressed their respect and gratitude for director Ang Lee with rounds of applause during the class. Ang Lee, who’s across the ocean, felt sorry that he couldn’t be there in person, and extended wishes to the viewers online and offline. Besides, Larry Yang and Gu Xiaogang present, two young directors supported through the Beijing Film Market Project Pitches of the BJIFF, put forward their difficulties in creation. And Lee shared with them his own experience in creation, and encouraged all the film creators to overcome external difficulties and continue to seek new ways of expression and technologies.

Ang Lee presents the class

　　Undoubtedly, Ang Lee is an outstanding Chinese director. His works talk through conflicts between traditional and modern ethics, and Oriental and Western cultural clashes at ease. He managed to find a harmonious but different path with his nuanced sense of propriety against a real life from diversified cultures, various voices, and disagreements. In addition, his understanding of and reflection on traditional Chinese culture as well as experience and feeling of Western values are all condensed and embodied into the aesthetics of his works.

　　In contrast with those directors who become successful at a young age, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home dad for six years after graduation with master’s degree from New York University, and landed his first success for his works Pushing Hands. Even the first success didn’t come by easily. At that time, Hsu Li-Kong, then Deputy General Manager and Production Manager of the Central Motion Picture Corporation, candidly offered him 12 million new Taiwan dollars for film production. Ang Lee, who had left Taiwan and furthered his study in the USA for a decade, hesitated over the offer. He was worried that the Pushing Hands, neither artistic nor commercial enough, would lead to his failure at debut. But Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s words convinced him, “I only had a budget of 8 million but I did it. Just do it when there is a chance”, and he signed a contract with the Central Motion Picture Corporation. The Pushing Hands was up for nine nominations at the Golden Horse Awards and won Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Special Jury Award. The first success brought him out of financial inadequacy, and he started his career as an independent screenwriter and director. He then directed The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman, three of which were known as his “Father-Knows-Best Trilogy”. All his three early works were either nominated or winners of multiple awards at the Golden Horse Awards, Berlin International Film Festival and Academy Awards (Oscars). When it comes to father roles in his works, Lee explained, “Fathers must play their role. It’s not just about manliness. The role’s far-reaching influence over grown-up son and the culture behind him are also very important. We often use father roles to express a society’s cultural features and mentality.”

Young director Gu Xiaogang asks questions

　　With directorial efforts of three Chinese films, he desired to direct a foreign language film. Or as he put, “In my experience, Oriental films are about aesthetic conception and blurry depiction of existence, deliberately or inadvertently. Take Oriental paintings as an example, figures are very small while the heaven, earth mountains and water take up much more space. There is plenty of blank space. In short, they focus on aesthetic conception and structure. Western films, in contrast, are more about conquering and aggression. Maybe it’s because of their nomadic origin. In their world view, individual decisions can make difference in the world, which may be really engaging. But how can Oriental films blend in or change Western films? I think a new technology might be a good chance for us as audience expects freshness. There is a big chance for us if we are able to make the most of our habits and strengths, such as aesthetic conception, blurry structure and holistic respect for the heaven and earth, and blend them and Western culture together.”

　　Lee then directed the Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm and Ride with the Devil, during which he continued to explore artistic creation, gradually got rid of his experience, and extended his thoughts about culture from the Orient to the West, and from individuals to the whole society. And he started to look for the new balancing point in filmmaking.

　　He reached the equilibrium not through new findings but by straightening the past. The outbreak of conflicts between popular culture and high art was postponed because he focused on directing Western literary films. When he started directing the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the outbreak occurred. Lee had a dream of martial arts and was deeply fascinated by the world full of chivalrous swordsmen and beauties. However, martial arts films produced in Hong Kong and Taiwan back then seldom associate with real feelings and culture. Instead, they are mainly sensory stimulations. Ang Lee intended to produce a martial arts film brimming with humanities. Hence the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was born. It followed the routine narration of popular martial arts films. But its plot between the lines revealed critical thinking that was never found in the genre. It’s beyond doubt that the film is a classic of all time. During its adaptation, Lee emphasized, “I didn’t want to translate the novel.” On the contrary, “For most of my adapted works, I just read through original works once. Because I am afraid the original works might get into my head and hinder me from making good films. The first impression about films matters a lot. You just have to present what moves you by means of filmmaking. There is an unspoken rule in the film industry, that is, you may be faithful to the original novel and produce a bad film, or you may throw the original novel away and produce a good film.”

Young director Larry Yang asks questions

　　In the wake of his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, he lost his equilibrium in filmmaking in the new century when he directed the Hulk because the atypical anti-violence Hollywood superhero was not accepted by the audience that rejected such artistic presentation. The film became a box office flop and suffered heavy losses. But he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the Brokeback Mountain before long and got himself back on track. He then directed the Taking Woodstock, which is not as famous as his other directorial works. The joyful musical comedy is very different in terms of style and tonality from his other works. It reproduced the Hipster movement in 1960s and 1970s. The story about Woodstock still focused on growth and family perspectives that he’s familiar with. He managed to penetrate cultural discussion into individual biography of the family drama. To some extent, the film reflected his swinging between flexible adaptation to the mass market and insistence on his personal artistic style. He sought after and managed to gradually approach the balancing point. 

　　At that point, he started transformation out of family ethics dramas. The characters in his works were not only perplexed about their own identity, but started to associate such confusion with the complex social reality and the broad time. His awakening literati consciousness enabled him to expand his observation from middle-class families to broader cultural and social groups. Regarding this point, Lee added, “As far as I’m concerned, adventure is safest comfort zone. I would feel agitated and think everything would go wrong if I stop adventuring. It’s a strange mentality but I think filmmakers should be adventurous.”

Young director Larry Yang asks questions

　　As Ang Lee changed his ideas about filmmaking, so did his approaches and focuses. His Life of Pi proved the point. Each of his early works contains clashes of concepts, debate of opinions, contradiction and mutual penetration of the Oriental and Western cultures, as well as conflicts and reconciliation of traditional and modern concepts. His trial of technological innovation is not a complete transformation in filmmaking. Technically speaking, he’s been a filmmaker committed to reform as always. And he’s consistently insisted on continued exploration of filmmaking possibilities and commitment to pushing back the art frontier. The Life of Pi enabled him to find great potential of 3D filming technology. Nevertheless, when he was directing the film, the 3D technology was only utilized to set off the storyline. The far-reaching aesthetic scenes created via 3D technology were just a tool for him to tap the market potential of the popular yet artistic film. Speaking of Life of Pi, he also added, “It was my first trial of digital cinematography, and my first 3D experience. I felt terrible in the middle of shooting because what I used to know, express and trust suddenly seemed void. I didn’t know how to shoot a film anymore. So, I restarted my exploration and entered a brand new world. I am still groping my way forward. I directed another two films in the past 10 years, and I have new plans for the future. I think I am still in the early stage of learning.”

　　According to Lee, the film is quite demanding of the actor, “The actor’s performance must be refined and reserved rather than exaggerated with richer mentality. It’s so much more than a story. The thoughts and conflicts of the role must be presented layer by layer. Apart from this, as the actor was playing the role, the uncertainty he displayed unconsciously were all captured by the cinematographers. In short, the film is very demanding of the actor. It’s a good thing. I often hope the bad may be eliminated while the good may be carried forward.”

Q&A

　　By the time when the Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk was globally premiered on October 14, 2016 at the AMC Lincoln Square 13, Lee extended the deep integration of technologies and film creation to the frontline of filmmaking over the world. In addition to cameras at 4K resolution in 3D, the film was shot in 120 fps rather than 24 fps, the conventional shooting and screening fps. A lot of close-ups were shot to maximize visual and audio impacts. Just like shooting in 120 fps, close-ups are quite controversial since its introduction. As for questioning regarding the technology applied in the production of the Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, he replied, “There is no point in comparing apples and oranges. So are movies in 2D and 3D. Filmmakers are excelling at 2D productions. It’s the same with movies shot on film. The digital and 3D technologies just set out in filmmaking. It’s like a baby that can’t stand on its own steadily. So, there is no point in comparing them. I’m not saying 2D is inadequate or in need of upgrading. It’s just that they are totally different things.”

　　It can be told from Ang Lee’s filmmaking career that he’s not a conservative filmmaker who shuts himself in the comfort zone. He’s blessed with the literati consciousness that urges him to keep pressing on and surmounting pinnacles. We cannot help but think his self-discipline in filmmaking is exactly what we need to pioneer and overcome current difficulties in the film industry. As for the impact of streaming services on cinema circuits, Lee said, “You have to accept the fact that the audience would rather watch movies at home than go to cinemas. Only by producing films that can’t be watched at home with great efforts, and creating new cinematography and stories can you attract the audience back to cinemas, which are of ritual and collective sense. I have confidence in cinemas.” At the same time, in his view, despite the huge impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry, the film revolution might be advanced consequentially. The revolution requires concerted efforts and promotion of all the filmmakers. Last but not least, Lee indicated that he’s currently working on an English script, and conceiving another two films. He was sure the works would be released in future. It’s highly anticipated that Ang Lee may discover new scenery and different angles of filmmaking while he is working hard to press ahead.