For Qiu Sheng, Father’s Day was particularly momentous this 12 months. The latest vacation marked the world premiere of his deeply private second characteristic, My Father’s Son, a seven-years-in-the-making sci-fi exploration of the director’s real-life dad, who died when he was an adolescent. An uncommon mixture of speculative sci-fi creativeness and intimate household sentiment, the movie is vying for prime honors within the Shanghai Worldwide Movie Pageant‘s fundamental competitors this week.
Drawing closely from Qiu’s biography, My Father’s Son facilities on an 18-year-old protagonist, Qiao, who loses his voice whereas trying to ship the eulogy at his father’s funeral and flees in anguish. The narrative unfolds throughout previous, current and future as Qiao grapples together with his troublesome late father’s legacy. In childhood flashbacks, his stern, secretive dad imparts a love of boxing; a decade later — now an engineer — Qiao tries to “resurrect” his father by coding an AI boxing simulator within the older man’s picture. The result’s a poignant drama that makes use of mild, at instances surreal, sci-fi touches to discover grief, reminiscence and the enduring however ever-fraught bonds between father and son.
My Father’s Son additionally alerts a promising path for Chinese language science fiction. Whereas the nation’s latest sci-fi hits — such because the blockbuster Wandering Earth franchise — lean towards big-budget spectacle within the Hollywood mildew, Qiu’s movie provides a quieter, extra introspective strategy. Its futuristic components are rooted in on a regular basis actuality (the “AI father” stays a humble boxing companion) and imbued with distinctly Chinese language cultural undercurrents. The story is about in Qiu’s hometown of Hangzhou, a metropolis the place ultra-modern skyscrapers glow above thousand-year-old canals, mirroring the movie’s mix of know-how with conventional values like filial piety.
Qiu first gained discover together with his 2018 debut, Suburban Birds, a dreamy drama set in Hangzhou that bowed at Switzerland’s Locarno Movie Pageant. A later brief, Double Helix, gained Shanghai’s Golden Goblet Award for greatest live-action brief, cementing Qiu as a expertise to observe.
In a dialog with The Hollywood Reporter shortly after his new characteristic’s premiere, Qiu mentioned the catharsis of confronting his dad by the filmmaking course of, why he views synthetic intelligence because the up to date type of a “ghost” or ancestral spirit and the present hopes and anxieties of China’s younger technology of administrators.
How did My Father’s Son start and the way did it evolve? I perceive it was partly impressed by the lack of your father in your youth?
Once I was 15, I used to be in highschool, and I had simply completed an examination. Then I used to be notified by my trainer that my father had handed away the day earlier than. I used to be taken to the funeral, and my household gave me a chunk of paper with a eulogy written on it. They advised me to learn it aloud to everybody. However I used to be overwhelmed and misplaced my voice after I tried to learn it. So I abruptly ran away. That grew to become a really painful reminiscence for me — and that’s precisely how My Father’s Son begins. I’ve at all times been pondering of constructing this expertise into a movie, however again then, I didn’t know finish the story. He tries to run away from his father’s loss of life — however then what?
Later, I feel in 2020, I learn a narrative a couple of Korean mom who resurrected her daughter by AI. She placed on a VR headset and met her daughter in a digital backyard. That piece of reports shocked me. I believed, sure, that’s how my story ought to go. So I began to jot down in regards to the son making an attempt to resurrect his father by AI.
How would you describe your strategy to the sci-fi style? In distinction to a number of the big-budget Chinese language sci-fi, which appears modeled after Hollywood blockbusters, your movie seems like one thing very completely different — virtually a brand new Chinese language strategy to the style, extra intimate and intertwined with conventional tradition in a naturalistic method.
I used to be very a lot influenced by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the Japanese director who did Pulse and Journey to the Shore. I really like his method of portraying sci-fi components in a really mundane, pure setting. On this movie, I attempted to do the identical. The sci-fi components develop out of actual life. The AI father and the shining bushes are all embodiments of our intimate needs and ideas.
One other massive inspiration is the town I dwell in — my hometown, Hangzhou. As you possibly can see from the movie, Hangzhou is a really unusual combine. It has historic components, just like the canals constructed a thousand years in the past, and likewise very fashionable skyscrapers with digital projections that appear to be respiratory animals. I attempted to switch that real-life expertise into the movie — to indicate the hole between the textures of my metropolis and rework them into sci-fi.
Past your private loss, a lot of the movie appears to be about making an attempt to know one’s father and one’s relationship with him — to know his lived expertise whereas processing your individual ache. Was that additionally private for you, or extra of an mental train?
Sure, it was like remedy. First, to know my father by reminiscence. I attempted to prepare these reminiscences and piece collectively who he was and what he skilled. Then I discovered one thing else, and it grew to become extra mental. I discovered the thread of boxing as a metaphor. I discovered archival boxing footage from 1894 by Edison Studios — that is initially of my movie — and I watched many boxing matches to see how violence is portrayed. Then I checked out video video games like Avenue Fighter and VR boxing. Boxing could be very VR-friendly — since you solely must see your opponent and your two fists in entrance of you. Each VR headset appears to have a boxing expertise. So I used these photographs to indicate how violence evolves: from early movie to video video games to VR. And I believed perhaps it’s time to cease this escalation — to place an finish to it. That’s how the movie developed.
Boxing additionally looks as if a very good metaphor for the father-son relationship within the movie, too — brutal, but additionally about self-discipline, distilling self-betterment and perhaps even intimacy. Did you consider it that method?
Sure, very a lot. Boxing is brutal but additionally fairly intimate. Typically, boxers battle for 2 minutes, however then they hug for one minute. There’s this fascinating combine. For instance, within the scene the place the daddy trains his son with naked fists, whereas the son is sitting by the window — it felt virtually like they had been dancing. By boxing, they had been creating intimacy, coherence. They had been understanding one another’s tempo and turning into extra intimate in a method they by no means usually may of their on a regular basis dynamic.
The potential position AI would possibly play in reminiscence, grief and private relationships can be very central to the movie. The movie appeared just a little ambiguous about whether or not that’s in the end good or dangerous. What do you suppose?
I’ve come to suppose that AI is the up to date type of a ghost. It has no physique. It has no age. It is aware of all of human historical past and data. You would even see it as a recent type of ancestor worship, which is a vital component of Chinese language tradition. Once you discuss to AI, you’re speaking to a ghost. Generally it fills holes in our feelings and reminiscences — it may be a consolation after we’ve misplaced somebody. However in the end, it’s like speaking to a mirror. Should you’re unhappy, you’re speaking to your disappointment. Should you’re comfortable, you’re speaking to your happiness. The protagonist realizes this ultimately — so he provides up the AI and throws it away.
I seen that water is a recurring motif. It rains typically, the canals are a continuing presence, and the characters occassionally out of the blue go swimming — generally absolutely clothed. The daddy ultimately drowns himself. What had been you doing symbolically with water?
First, that comes from the character of Hangzhou itself — a metropolis filled with water. The canal is linked to the lake, and the lake is linked to streams, which in the end connect with the ocean. It’s additionally associated to my household’s historical past. As the daddy says within the movie, my grandparents migrated by the canal and stopped in Hangzhou to make their life. So I used to be utilizing water to attach the previous, current and future. Water can be a metaphor for beginning and loss of life. We’re all born in water — and after we are born, we all know swim, however later we neglect. Within the movie, the daddy dies within the water — perhaps hallucinating that he’s returning to beginning.
The movie additionally has a definite three-part construction — spanning the previous, one thing like the current after which the longer term. Every half has its personal feel and look. Are you able to discuss the way you approached the visible model for every?
For the previous, we used primarily medium photographs. We had been fairly near the characters, documenting their habits. The colours had been extra vibrant — like reminiscences. For the second half, we used longer takes to observe the character by the town, to indicate his anxiousness and incapacity to search out relaxation in a busy metropolis. For the third half, the colours had been cooler, and we used wider angles to indicate how individuals are alienated on this future time.
You studied neuroscience earlier than pivoting and turning into a filmmaker. I’m going to ask you the massive query that everybody is pondering and podcasting about these days: Together with your previous background in onerous science and your current profession as an artist, how do you view the promise and potential peril that AI presents to numerous aspects of life?
Nicely, it’s a really fascinating matter. Everybody says AI is harmful, that it’s going to substitute people — as if evolution goes from monkey to man to AI. However I don’t suppose that’s the case. As I stated, I feel AI is extra like a ghost — or a virus. It doesn’t want our streets or cafes; it takes over digital, psychological and even religious areas. I feel we’ll coexist with AI for a very long time. We are going to proceed to present in our areas, and AI will exist in its digital one — perhaps we’ll even must work together with the digital world much less, with AI’s assist, which might be fairly good.
Proper now, AI-generated content material, or AIGC, is turning into increasingly more common in China. However I don’t like most of it. Many artists simply use it to imitate previous human works. However I feel AI will be higher used to create surreal outcomes. A few of these experiments remind me of the early movies of Méliès. Perhaps utilizing AI can assist us discover a path again to the beginning of cinema — imaginary, imaginative cinema. I’m making an attempt to experiment with that myself — I’d prefer to perhaps make a surrealist AI movie.
You’ve talked about your individual curiosity in sci-fi and your influences. Are you snug speaking in regards to the broader potential for sci-fi in Chinese language cinema? Across the time of The Wandering Earth, there was an incredible quantity of pleasure and curiosity within the style, however since then Chinese language sci-fi has been uneven, maybe even fizzled. What do you hope to see for the style in your business?
Nicely, I feel the sci-fi style has been outlined by American movies within the ’70s and ’80s, which had been very optimistic in regards to the future. The Wandering Earth succeeded as a result of it touched one thing deep in Chinese language audiences — a worry of dropping one thing. However then Chinese language sci-fi bought caught. Perhaps it’s as a result of we really feel pessimistic in regards to the future. Should you present an autonomous automobile, we are saying it’d trigger accidents. Should you present gene modifying, we are saying it’s harmful for our youngsters. And perhaps this stuff are true — however there isn’t the optimism. I’m unsure how the style will evolve in China. In my movie, I’m making an attempt to discover how we’d use AI to resurrect a liked one and discover consolation. However I’m nonetheless a bit pessimistic, like lots of my technology. Perhaps after we discover a approach to turn out to be extra optimistic once more, sci-fi in China will rise.
Your movie premiered on Father’s Day. What sort of response did you get? How have individuals — particularly sons — been reacting to the movie’s portrayal of the cross-generational father-son relationship?
After the premiere, we obtained polarized evaluations. Some had been very excited. Some stated they noticed a brand new approach to work together with their father. One particular person stated they texted or known as their father for the primary time in a protracted whereas. However others stated they couldn’t discover a private method into the movie. They might observe the father-son relationship, however they couldn’t connect with it themselves.
What’s the temper like within the Chinese language business proper now? The Chinese language field workplace ended 2024 in dangerous form, however then there was the large success of Nezha 2 to start out the 12 months — however there haven’t been any hits since, which appears to be stressing individuals out. Nonetheless, China continues to take part in movie festivals around the globe with thrilling new work. Bi Gan’s Resurrections simply gained a particular honor at Cannes. So, is it merely a combined bag as at all times? What’s your generational cohort pondering and worrying about?
You hit the important thing factors. Sure, we’re at a low level. After Nezha 2, the market has been chilly. Summer time has begun, however there aren’t indicators of restoration but. For younger filmmakers, there was a time — after Bi Gan’s Kaili Blues in 2015 and earlier than COVID — when younger administrators who wished to do new issues had plenty of alternatives. However over the previous few years, even when Chinese language movies are chosen by massive festivals, they typically don’t get launched in China. That’s very discouraging. We’re all excited that Bi Gan’s movie made it by and did effectively — nevertheless it’s worrying that he appears to be the one one.
You stated earlier that making this movie was like remedy. How do you are feeling now, and what did you study your self and your father?
From the second I had the idea to now, it’s been seven years. It was a tough course of. However I feel I actually bought to know my father — by writing and directing, even when it’s a model of him that I’ve imagined. I additionally realized extra about myself. Earlier than, I used to be too caught up in grief — lacking him an excessive amount of. However it wasn’t equal. The extra I gave to it, the extra empty I felt. It was like placing emotion right into a void. At one level throughout modifying, I made a decision to cease — to place down the glasses and let him go. My life had been too taken by grief. Since then, I’ve felt significantly better.