https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/df20ccd4-717a-4ce8-ba9b-1e94836451cb 'Comment Yukong Déplaça les Montagnes' / 'How Yukong Moved the Mountains' China, 1976, Joris Ivens & Marceline Loridan-Ivens Language Audio: ENG dub, Subs: N/A "Two concepts Doubts about how to approach their ambitious China project lead Ivens and Loridan to evolve two different concept: ‘I shoot 2 films (with Marceline): one, my international idea – and another about China after the Cultural Revolution (I sense a sort of transitional period here, much is attempted with sincerity and the best is kept)’.[17] Ivens’ ‘international idea’ referred to a synthetic film in which the majesty of China’s natural resources and history were to be combined with a story about socialism under construction. The alternative concept related to an element that Ivens and Loridan could not find in other considerations about China: everyday life at the basis of Chinese society. Filming started at the end of May 1972 on the campus of Quinghua University in Beijing, without a scenario and with a Chinese technical crew. The arrangement with the film studio was that they would supply the personnel and that the latter would be given practical training in return. The film was an independent production funded by the filmmakers own production house (CAPI-Films) and not the Chinese. This was made possible by an advance on box-office receipts granted by the Centre National de la Cinématographie. Both filmmakers were taken aback when the viewed the initial rushes because they appeared to be completely unusable.[18] The cameraman Li Zexiang had placed the camera on a tripod at the back of the classroom but had not followed the microphone. As a result, the sound constantly fades in and out and the camera work is ‘like driving a car at the same speed all the time’. Ivens advised Li Zexiang to pay special attention when the students got tired, leaned back in their chairs, whispered to one another or got up to mischief, insisting that such moments made things interesting.[19] Loridan asked Ivens to replace the cameraman, but that latter saw no sense in doing so since his replacement would probably have filmed in exactly the same way.[20] Ivens’ method became clear to Li Zexiang when they heard about a football incident that had taken place two days earlier at Lyceum 31 in Beijing. Instead of handing over the ball when the bell rang to signal the end of the break, a student at the school had kicked it in the direction of the teacher. Ivens preferred not to attempt a reconstruction of the incident, focussing instead on the discussion that ensued between the students and their teachers on responsibility and not avoiding the occasional yawning face. This was an eye-opener for the cameraman. Resolving the conflict through consultation, whereby the teacher was also subject to criticism, served to symbolise the Chinese educational system." -https://www.ivens.nl/ (https://www.ivens.nl/en/163-yukong-on-cannes-classics-2014) Thu, 09 Apr 2026 01:36:25 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://tankie.tube https://tankie.tube/lazy-static/avatars/3ba3ff73-a8b6-49c9-add8-9653ef090c7f.webp https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/df20ccd4-717a-4ce8-ba9b-1e94836451cb All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://tankie.tube/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.