Inside The Chinese Mayor (Interview)

The 13th Floor continues its coverage of the 2015 New Zealand International Film Festival with an interview with Chinese film producer Zhao Qi. Qi’s documentary, The Chinese Mayor offers unprecedented insight into the inner workings of the modern Chinese local government. Film director Zhou Hao followed Geng Yanbo, the mayor of Datong City, China’s most polluted city as he attempts to rebuild the city into the cultural centre it was 1600 years ago. His crusade includes tearing down thousands of homes and building a huge wall that he hopes will attract tourists. Along the way we are treated to a rare glimpse into the lives of ordinary Chinese people and the way local government works in China. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke with film producer Zhao Qi about the difficulties of making independent film documentaries in China

Click here to listen to the interview with film producer Zhao Qi:

Or read a transcription of the interview here:

MD: I guess my first question is, I was wondering what brought you to the subject matter? Where did you get the idea to come up with making a film about this particular person?

ZQ: Well actually I always think that for the independent productions as a documentary in China, people usually don’t have the answers to tell the story about internal system and management and party and government. Actually they are very important in the daily lives and also in China at large. So I’m always interested in finding out something that can reflect how the Chinese government is working and how the internal mechanism shapes the whole country. Of course need it to be told in a good story. So we had this idea first and then by accident a friend of ours, I mean me also directing. A friend of ours had introduced someone to who is Mr. Geng Yanbo he said that this major is kind of a very different person and very, kind of an extravert .

MD: Right.

ZQ: What he’s doing in something pretty amazing, he wants to do like changing the city. So we think that he’s started to respect what’s going on in China, in this great transitional period, in this great organisation and also, I mean, how much he’s willing to be filmed can very much reflect how we want to show about the internal mechanism of the Communist Party and Chinese government. So we think that this could be something really interesting. So we kind of followed him for a year and a half.

MD: Right.

ZQ: We were supposed to finish the story by, would have been finishing the whole project but surprisingly he was moved away.

MD: Right.

ZQ: Yeah without, I mean before the whole project was finished. In the beginning we’re thinking, ‘Oh what shall we do regarding the film,’ but later we realised actually that reflects more about how, I mean the good point also, that point of the whole system and it can be more inspiring, thought-provoking. So yeah, basically that’s how the story came to be.

MD: Right. When you approached him about going around and filming him, I assume you had to get his permission. How did you present yourselves and the type of film that you were planning on making?

ZQ: Well actually I think he is kind of a very approachable person. He didn’t really was asking for details, what kind of things we’ll like to shoot and also, to be honest, we didn’t really know what kind of film we’re going to make cause it’s a documentary anyway. We said that we’ll try to follow you, I mean as long as you are open to us and then we’re going to deliver something that is quite interesting and quite faithful to your daily administration and your daily life which could be something rare for the Chinese audience and also for the people in the world because they seldom have a vision to get into the whole system and then he just agrees. We try to minimize our crew every time. We have just 2 people or sometimes 1. So it’s very small, when the local officials, when they go out to supervise our location usually they have local T.V. stations following him and we’re just like 1 camera among many cameras. So in that way it’s like we’re getting into the whole crowd without being noticed, I mean maybe that’s one of the reasons, I mean at the end of the film he didn’t realise that we were there for so long and he didn’t realise what we have shot.

MD: Right. He seemed to forget that you were there at all.

ZQ: Yeah. We did have his permission to some extent but it’s not that serious. He agreed that we follow him and then we just follow him and after a while he forgets about it.

MD: Right, right. When you’re making a film and when you’re editing it, are you making the film with the Chinese audience in mind or world-wide audience?

ZQ: I mean for the one you have watched and you have watched the film already,right?

MD: Yes.

ZQ: I mean that film is more made for the international audience. We have taken out something which we think is more complicated lacking of context so people can understand. So we were trying to make it more straight-forward so people can have better knowledge of what story we’re talking about. For the Chinese version we’re probably going to make it like 2 hours because Chinese, they have more knowledge about what’s going on in China and all these sort of demolishing things. So then they want to see more of what’s happening in it. So probably we’re going to have a longer cut for the Chinese audience but even that one is interesting for Chinese as well. I mean in general this is something pretty rare for both international audience and the Chinese audience because theres no such film before that had the access to the internal system that much.

MD: Right. I was wondering what kind of unique problems there are for a producer making a documentary in China vs, say if you were making a similar type of film in the Western world?

ZQ: It’s very hard for me to answer your question because I’ve never had any experience making a similar film in the Western world.

MD: I was afraid you might say that.

ZQ: Yeah I’ve only had experience making that in China and so far this experience didn’t really give me too much of a hard time. I mean politically it’s okay, I mean we were there because he had his concerns so all his subordinates, they agreed, so we didn’t have too many problems The only issue I think for us is more that raising the funds which is always the problem, I mean with independent productions in China because we’re lacking in social resources support an independent production.

MD: Right.

ZQ: That could be the main issue, yeah. But apart from that regarding shooting and I think it’s fine and in this case for Geng Yanbo I think he’s very open, I would not expect to meet anyone, I mean a Western official that could be more open than him.

MD: Right.

ZQ: Anyway that’s my point of view.

MD: Was there anyone that you had to kind of answer to as far as the final cut of the film and making sure that there was anything that was objectionable to anybody in it?

ZQ: We actually try and hold our editorial independence. So it’s basically our judgement and our point of view about the whole thing. We tried to, I mean to me independence means we try to be independent from whatever the mainstream media could be, it could be a mainstream media found, the Chinese media also could be found Western media. Basically we think, I mean they can both be right but they try to focus on certain politics, but we try to raise like those parts of that mainstream media have ignored. So what we think, for this one we’re there to bring anything that is good for people to think, no matter you can make any conclusion but you find someone with his own vision no matter if it’s good or bad, but there’s no principle to grantee that, basically its whether your boss is the good one or not.

MD: Right.

ZQ: I mean all these things can be quite inspiring but we like to raise these things for people to think because we just realised the whole thing is too complicated to make a single judgement to say that he’s right or that he’s wrong.

MD: Right.

ZQ: It’s something that is very hard to say, I mean maybe you meet someone who has been so dominant, so tyrannical in a way, but at the same time, maybe you expect someone but at the same time he is wise enough to lead people around because it’s efficient and people need someone sometimes to go through some period that they really need development. I mean in general its just like too hard to make a single judgement.

MD: Yeah.

ZQ: To just say its black or white.

MD: Yeah.

ZQ: So that’s what we have in our mind, try to have different opinions in the film, try to make people confused about China. I mean, after watching the film that you find your current, your present knowledge about China has been challenged and then that the point, you’ll find actually it’s not that easy.

MD: I was curious, I mean its one thing to, a politician is used to having cameras pointed at him and following him around as you say they got the media there. What was the average person’s reaction to having cameras pointed at them. Were they intimidated, were they used to it, was it something that they were concerned about?

ZQ: Well I think they’re going to show some sort of appearance in front of the camera, I mean as long as they know the camera is pointing at them they try to show a different side of them.

MD: Sure.

ZQ: Maybe in some occasions they say something, they think it’s good for themselves but the media could be picky to find out something that is not good for them. But in this case I think , I mean he is more open than the average, I think that’s because, I mean on one hand he’s very, he’s kind of an open person and also he thinks maybe his administration is transparent, nothing to really hide. But I think that’s my own persumsion which could be wrong but I personally think that it could be like, he has a larger ancient Chinese intellectual complex which means that he is more like someone, he’s like someone to write a book about him. He just trys to be faithful because the book would be recorded in history rather than him getting himself promoted in a short period of time. So he thinks maybe for his own interest is try to be honest and leave something that can be judged in a longer period rather than I mean hide himself and get him promoted in the system but only for a short while, you know what I mean.

MD: Right. He’s thinking of his legacy.

ZQ: Yeah, something like that. So he tends to be more open so he can leave that and basically once the film is made and it’s about him, it is actually the legacy already beacause what he is doing could be judged in 5 years time or 10 years time or even 15 years or 20 years time, it could be a different judgement after watching the film by different generations. I mean at least that reassures this transitional period. So in that sense, I mean maybe he realised its good so he’s more open than the average officials.

MD: Right. Do you think that the making of the film had any direct effect on his career or how the Chinese government in general will work in the future?

ZQ: For the first part, I mean I’m not really sure how much impact the film would have to his own career in the beginning. But so far, I mean he is still in his position, he’s not promoted, he is not sacked. I guess, he’s safe, he’s doing his job.

MD: Right.

ZQ: Yeah, so he’s fine. So far for him himself, he’s fine. Actually I don’t know an independent film could have, could make any change for whole government but I hope that some people would have a chance to see the film and they’re going to be inspired or they’re going to at least look into the system to try and understand, to find out what’s good and what’s bad, what’s right and what’s wrong.

MD: Right. What kind of audience will it get in China? Will there be mass distribution or is it kind of a smaller niche kind of thing.

ZQ: In China? Well I think everyone in China would like to see such a film.

MD: Yeah.

ZQ: I mean it could be sort of, it could be a hit in Chinese cinema regards independent production and factual features. The problem is that we are not sure we were able to get the permit to show it in theaters or not. At last we are able to get the permit and then, I’m pretty sure at least, I mean the elite of the public can also…they’re all going to have interest to watch this film. So it’s not really in the niche market but it depends how much we get approved by the authorities to be able to show the film in the public.

MD: Gotcha. Speaking as a Westerner who knows, we hear about China all the time these days, it’s in the news, it’s a major political and economic force, but it just reveals how little we know about the actual workings, the inner workings of the government and I think it’s a real eye opener, I guess it’s an educational film for somebody like myself. Is that how you found people’s reaction to it?

ZQ: Well yeah. Actually I’m pretty much happy with the way it turned out. I think it’s welcome because it’s that sort of an eye opener for me and also for our own crew as well.

MD: Right.

ZQ: Because we didn’t really get into the system before either. So I just realised how complicated the whole system is, I mean regarding the whole size of the country and the scale of the population. So it’s like any statement you want to make, no matter it’s good or bad, it’s so easy to find evidence to support it. But the problem is that, it’s not a whole picture. You can touch the tail of the elephant. So it is the tail of the elephant is not round, but it’s not the elephant, it’s only the tail of the elephant. So what I mean is that we tend to show the people who have the tail of the elephant to know that actually the elephant can also have tusks and then in that way maybe step by step people are able to build up sort of a vision to understand. I hope, in the larger sense people realise the world is not what they are only told by simple statements, they have to go and explore the whole thing by themselves and they’re point of view about the whole world and about the relation between west and east and different cultures can be told. But its not that simple.

Click here for more information about The Chinese Mayor at the NZIFF.

Watch the trailer for The Chinese Mayor here:

 

 

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