Jia Zhang-Ke
I Wish I Knew by Jia Zhang-Ke in Un Certain Regard
Between censorship and consecration, director Jia Zhang-Ke has cut a unique path for himself in the world of Chinese cinematography. His latest film, I Wish I Knew (Hai shang chuan qi ), is being screened today in Un Certain Regard in Salle Debussy at 16:30.
Director Jia Zhang-Ke is originally from the province du Shanxi, a region affected by powerful economic changes that have left their mark on the film maker’s work. I Wish I Knew, originally produced for the World Fair, casts a look back on the evolution of Shanghai between 1933 and 2010, seen from the point of view of eighteen different people. The Chinese mega-cities have fascinated the director from the beginning of his career. His first feature film, Xiao Wu artisan pickpocket (1997), told the story of street children. The film was banned by the authorities in his own country. The director’s next three works met with the same censorship.
To get around the difficulties of funding, the director went digital in 2002 to film Plaisir inconnus, presented in Competition in Cannes. Three years later, The World was his first film to be allowed to be released in Chinese cinemas by the authorities. This feature film is also his opportunity to show on camera his friend, director Wang Xiaoshuai (Prix du Jury in 2005 for Shanghai dreams). In 2008, Jia Zhang-Ke came back to the Official Selection for 24 City, which has a theme very close to I Wish I Knew, as the director evokes the transformation of a working class suburb into a complex of luxury apartments.
GF
Director Jia Zhang-Ke is originally from the province du Shanxi, a region affected by powerful economic changes that have left their mark on the film maker’s work.
I Wish I Knew
, originally produced for the World Fair, casts a look back on the evolution of Shanghai between 1933 and 2010, seen from the point of view of eighteen different people. The Chinese mega-cities have fascinated the director from the beginning of his career. His first feature film,
Xiao Wu artisan pickpocket
(1997), told the story of street children. The film was banned by the authorities in his own country. The director’s next three works met with the same censorship.
To get around the difficulties of funding, the director went digital in 2002 to film Plaisir inconnus, presented in Competition in Cannes. Three years later, The World was his first film to be allowed to be released in Chinese cinemas by the authorities. This feature film is also his opportunity to show on camera his friend, director Wang Xiaoshuai (Prix du Jury in 2005 for Shanghai dreams). In 2008, Jia Zhang-Ke came back to the Official Selection for 24 City, which has a theme very close to I Wish I Knew, as the director evokes the transformation of a working class suburb into a complex of luxury apartments.
GF
