"Many people say that I like "The Old Friends of Mountains and Rivers" the most in my movies, which shocked and inspired me because it has a Chinese emotional story. When you faithfully present a sincere emotion on the big screen, it will be understood by people from different eras, and may even be easier to understand than the era in which the works were produced." Yesterday, director Jia Zhangke agreed with the audience at the master class of the 15th Beijing International Film Festival that he hopes to re-screen "The Old Friends of Mountains and Rivers" when the snow is first snow this year.

　　"The Old Friends of Mountains and Rivers" uses three different formats to distinguish the ages; "The Children of Jianghu" explores different image materials, and the film ends in a monitor's image; the latest work "The Romantic Generation" released in 2024 is an archive-like "database movie" that uses image materials shot for 20 years. Compared with more stories and characters discussed, Jia Zhangke's pursuit of image form has never stopped.

　　Jia Zhangke believes that the aesthetics of the film itself can play a great narrative role. For example, the scenes at the beginning of "The Old Friends of Mountains and Rivers" are very densely scheduled, the space is crowded, and the interaction between people is very enthusiastic; the film ends with a wide screen, and there are very few people around the image except for the protagonist. This change shows that interpersonal relationships have gone from intimacy to alienation and loneliness, and better convey the emotional atmosphere.

　　"I have always been very free when it comes to using images, not just simply listing different materials." Jia Zhangke revealed that he tried to take a lot of photos with a vertical screen mobile phone in the last part of "The Children of the Jianghu", but they were cut out in the end because "some specific technical difficulties." "The vertical screen is really lively, but it's a bit out of balance (compared to the previous one)." He said that now we look at vertical screen images in large quantities, which has become a trend. However, when asked whether he would try to shoot short dramas in the future, Jia Zhangke smiled and declined: "I have watched a lot of short dramas. After watching short dramas, I think I should make a movie more."

　　As a film director who is very close to high-tech, in Jia Zhangke's view, after the emergence of new technologies such as AI, the operation methods of the world and people's views on the world will change, and what follows is the change of narrative. "I don't know if I were asked to describe where it would go. To me, "The Romantic Generation" is what I can see at the moment."

　　Specifically speaking of the use of AI, Jia Zhangke is more concerned about AI image generation issues. He used AI to shoot a short film "Wheat Harvest" at the end of last year. When he created "Wheat Harvest", he told his partners that he would not make a reasonable film based on current AI technology, that is, he would not avoid the weaknesses of AI. He hopes to test whether current AI can complete the most traditional narrative.

　　Jia Zhangke predicted that using AI to make movies in the future would be a personal choice, but he still could not resist taking the camera into the real world. In his heart, AI cannot replace this kind of fun. "At least for me personally, most of them will retain real shots, because I like the scene, I like to see the world in real life and capture it." Photo by reporter Yuan Yuner, Gannan

[Editor in charge: Yang Guang]