2019-06-18

Golden Goblet Awards Competition Films |TREES UNDER THE SUN: An Indian Film Without Dancing Is a Lit

The official show of TREES UNDER THE SUN

TREES UNDER THE SUN, an entry of golden goblet awards from India, was screened at the Shanghai Film Art Center on June 17. After screening, director Damodaran Bijukumar came to the site with some main creators to communicate with the audience.

There is a Dalit family living on a small island in Kerala. In rainy times, they lost their house due to floods, and the family moved to Himachal Pradesh, a city in northern Indian, where they worked as keepers of an apple orchard. Living among the mountains, in the isolated apple orchard, the family not only has to fight against the nature, but also has to face the oppression of the landlord all the time. The only thing they can do is to make a living. The film shows how is the Indian community at the bottom of the social structure dealing with the discrimination brought by the caste system.

Main creators of TREES UNDER THE SUN communicating with the audience

In the meeting after the screening, the director said that the social system, living environment and lifestyle shown in the film are still existed in today\'s Indian society. He said, "Whether it\'s a natural disaster like a flood, or a landlord\'s oppression of the poor, we just bring these scenes back to life."

Cast Meeting of TREES UNDER THE SUN

At the end of the film, the audience thought that the hero would pull the shotgun and defend his right to live, but the director unexpectedly let him put down the shotgun he had picked up at the last moment and turn around to start a new wandering. The director was unmoved by the audience\'s "pity", "I would like to say, this is life, life will not have so many reversals, will not always be a happy ending."

The director said frankly that the realistic style of the film may have broken Chinese audiences\' stereotype of singing and dancing, lively rhythm in Bollywood films. He said, "India has many different languages and cultures, but it is a pity that some realistic works are not noticed by the public", which does not affect the director\'s thinking and creation. "Whether it\'s business or art, mainstream or non-mainstream, our job is to make movies, and what we want to express is emotion."

Director Damodaran Bijukumar of TREES UNDER THE SUN

In addition to the realistic depiction of everyday life, the film is also interspersed with a number of dreamlike and imaginary passages, such as a yellow door frame that appears repeatedly in the frame. Some audiences asked about the symbolic significance of the yellow door, the director said the door represents the main characters\' yearning for home. "The protagonists are displaced and homeless, so they have been longing for a house of their own." The reason why the door is painted yellow is that most of the local people\'s doors in India are yellow.

The simple and natural performances of the main actors also aroused the curiosity of some audiences. Some fans asked whether the actors in the film were all amateur, and the director on the stage smiled, "you have been cheated!" It turns out that the actor who plays the grieving father is a professional comedian, while the son is played by the director\'s young son, who has appeared in several award-winning films in India.

Main creators of TREES UNDER THE SUN took a group photo