China film festival breaks new ground
Lie Hua, Contributor, Jakarta
Some children are happily playing in a school playground. A close-up shows that they are blind, with one of them a child named Ding Lihua. After some time, she grows up into a pretty, young girl.
One day, when her brother was taking her to school on his bike, she jumped off after he teased her. Angry, she ran after her brother, who was speeding away on his bike while ringing his bell. It was while she was running that she encountered coach Li, who was out on a run with some youngsters.
Impressed with Lihua's running, he decided to take her to his sports school and give her the training she needed.
Soon, Lihua developed into a good sprinter, taking part in competitions for the blind and often winning. But at the same time, she suffered from an identity crisis as a blind woman, thinking that people would always treat her as being handicapped despite her achievements.
Colors of the Blind, a 1997 production, was recently screened at the H. Usmar Ismail film Center in Kuningan, South Jakarta, to a full house, marking the start of China Film Festival 2002 -- the first to be held in the country for over three decades.
And after quite successful screenings in four theaters in Jakarta, the festival -- which is jointly organized by, among others, the Chinese embassy here and Indonesia's Ministry of Culture and Tourism -- has now moved on to Surabaya's Mitra Cinema, where it will run until July 26.
The festival, which features 11 films -- Colors of the Blind, Touched by Love, Postmen in the Mountain, Purple Sunset, Lotus Lantern, Genghis Khan, The Gua Sha Treatment, Dancing Girl, The Mother, The Judge, Subway Spring and Moon Sets Beyond the River, marks the latest improvement in diplomatic relations between China and Indonesia, which date back in 1950. Diplomatic relations were suspended following the bloody 1965 tragedy when the New Order regime accused China of complicity in the failed coup attempt that the Soeharto government blamed on the now- defunct Indonesian Communist Party.
It was not until August 1990 that diplomatic relations were resumed, and since then bilateral ties have mostly been devoted to boosting business and economic relations.
The festival, according to Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gede Ardika in his speech, was staged as a follow-up to President Megawati Soekarnoputri's recent visit to China. The minister hoped that the festival would pave the way for improved tourism between the two countries.
The opening ceremony of the festival was also attended by a 10-strong Chinese film delegation and a number of famous figures from the Indonesian film industry, including Rima Melati, Rosihan Anwar and Hendrik Gozali.
Chinese envoy to Indonesia Lu Shumin said the festival presented films reflecting the present reforms underway in China and hoped that through the festival Indonesians would gain a better understanding of the Chinese people and culture.
Local film buffs are already familiar with some mainland Chinese actors, actresses and film directors, such as Li Linjie, Zhao Wencuo, Gong Li, Zhang Yimou and Zheng Kaige, through those Chinese films that have gained popularity in the West.
But they know little about the development of Chinese cinematography beyond the martial arts and drama series screened here. Local viewers are far more familiar with Hong Kong or Taiwanese films.
In fact, China's cinematography has made great progress as evident from Colors of the Blind.
While the film moves at a fast pace using an eloquent narrative technique, the camera still manages to capture important moments of Ding Lihua's life. The settings also help, sometimes with the metaphorical presence of birds and pagodas against the backdrop of uniquely Chinese natural panoramas.
For her role in the film, leading actress Tao Hong (Ding Lihua), who also attended the festival's opening ceremony, won the 1998 Golden Rooster Award (China's highest film award) as Best Actress and received a citation at the 10th Damascus International Film Festival, 2002.