Michel Ciment:Jia Zhangke Gives Film Vision of Country and Individuals

As one of the most famous French  Critics, Michel Ciment has been a jury member of some twenty festivals,including Cannes, Berlin, and Venice. This time invited to be international jury for Goldern Gobelt Award, Michel Ciment thinks that there is a connection between directors\' personalities and their films, and he highly praises Jia Zhangke for his films with vision of a country and individuals, just like his favorate directer Stanley Kubrick\'s.

Daily News: As a Jury member, what do you think of the 16th Shanghai International Film Festival?
Michel Ciment:  First of all, I love the city, and second it\'s a very good experience to come to see the films. Shanghai is a very exciting place, because it is full of life, experiences and development. Eight years ago, my wife and I came to Shanghai for the first time, not for business, but for touring and I was very impressed by it. So I was very happy to be invited to be on the Jury.

Daily News:  In your opinion, what is the difference between SIFF and the Cannes Film Festival?
Michel Ciment: As big festivals go, I think they have much in common. As for SIFF, it is very like Toronto, Berlin and London which are big festivals with hundreds of films and lots of audience. The world is becoming united and the same.

Daily News: Your Top 10 films list has Barry Lyndon made by Stanley Kubrick at the toppest, and why is there no Chinese film listed?
Michel Ciment:  Ten is very limited. If it was 100, I\'d put in several Chinese movies. Kubrick recreated the world, he is a very great director.

Daily News:  So which Chinese films would you include?
Michel Ciment:  I would say Still Life by Jia Zhangke, City of Sadness by Hsiao-hsien Hou and In the Mood for Love by Kar Wai Wong. It\'s very difficult because Farewell My Concubine by Kaige Chen is also my favorite.

Daily News:  Young directors like Jia Zhangke are called "the 6th generation directors" and it is said they were influenced by French newwave. What\'s your opinion?
Michel Ciment: Oh, yes. But when I see Jia Zhangke\'s films, I don\'t think of the newwave. Actually, the newwave is not a movement like new realism. The newwave is just about young people\'s will to make films.

Daily News:  What do you think of the artistic quality of Jia Zhangke\'s films?
Michel Ciment: I think they are very ambitious, and absolutely successful. Because what he does in his films is to show the development of a country at a certain stage from north to south and including the western parts of China. His stories are about love, corruption, suicide, and economic problems. It is a vision of a country and individuals, which is the most difficult thing to do. That\'s also why I like Barry Lyndon for it is about the world and peace.

Daily News: Do you think there is a connection between directors\' personalities and their films?
Michel Ciment:  Very often. Sometimes you don\'t see it, but I am sure it exists. I don\'t think that you can say the work is exactly the same as the person, but you cannot say it is completely different from the person. There is definitely an elementary person in the film, and if you know a person very well, more and more you will understand how much there is of them in the film.
But another story I can tell you is about Robert Bresson. When I was doing an interview with him, I asked, "I heard you don\'t often go to the cinema, so do you?" He responded, "I saw a very interesting film. It\'s a spy story about James Bond and there is a very beautiful skiing sequence." Then he told me to stop the tape recorder and insisted what he said was not for publication. Actually he was very afraid that people would know that Robert Bresson enjoyed a James Bond movie.

Daily News: What do you think about current French directors?
Michel Ciment: There are many excellent directors including female directors. I cannot remember all their names, but they are actually great. For me, the best living French director is Alain Resnais. He is 91 years old this year and he really has done a good job.