Interview with director Muzhi Zhang
Welcome Mr Zhang, we are very excited to have you today and discuss about your work. Who is Muchi Zhang and how did his passion for filmmaking start?
I am a young filmmaker who started making documentaries when he studied in UCL.
A critical trigger of my film odyssey is my journalism experience. I've studied journalism in south China for four years (2016-2020). During these four years, huge changes happened in every aspect of my nation. The great revelation of new media gave every person a chance to be a journalist, which made the news spreading more easily and quickly, sometimes even break the message barricade set by politics. Corruption, crime and inequality...as a journalism student I saw those questions were thrown to the public, and then went silent very quickly.
I'm tired of the limitations of journalism. I want something deeper and stay longer in people's minds, something people would willing to replay again and again. That was a reason I turned to documentaries.
Can you tell us about your previous work?
He vanished in 1946 is my first documentary. During my undergraduate time, I made some short films(fictional) before as well. The theme of my shorts were always social problems. Those film crews were all supported by my schoolmates, with no payment. They have all my love and gratitude. Those days are just like my film childhood, when I built my base of film directing.
I wrote and directed some dramas in China. My proudest one is a drama called 杨先生（Mr.Young）. The story is based on Metoo move in China, while more girls stand out to tip off criminals of sex. Many of those sexual assaults happened in College. I read a lot archives about a suicide in 1997, where a girl jumped off building after raped by a teacher. The worst thing in the whole process is that she didn't get any help from the University. Our drama was about to retro her deep inside world before she left this world.
The first half of the drama is actually a comedy, where we all wear a fake smile and pretend nothing happened. The second half shows the depressing reality, mentioning that we didn't make anything for her unfair death. But at least, to remember is a way to revolt.
That is the reason for all my creative work as well. To remember.
CONVERSATION ABOUT: ‘‘He vanished in 1946’’
Talk to us about your documentary ? What inspired you ?
He vanished in 1946 was structured on a racism scandal in British history, that thousands of Chinese sailors were repatriated after they helped the country out. Since I went to Europe, racism has raised my interest. During the first 22 years of my life, I hardly left China where most of the people are Chinese. As one of the majority, I never experienced or observed racial offense. However, racism in Europe is no longer a purely theoretical concept for me. The uncomfortable situations happened to my friends and me, sometimes just on the downstairs street of my home. That triggered my exploration of racism and eventually led me to this film.
The original idea is to shoot a film of this group of people, all left children of Chinese sailors. After contacted several people, I realized focusing on Peter is the better idea. One reason is the limitation of the length. I couldn’t afford the production of a film longer than an hour, and if the breadth hurts the depth would make things worse. Another reason is Marc Issac told me ''If everybody is happy, then no one should make films.'' And in this historical trauma, Peter is definitely the most unhappy person alive. To go closer to this old angry scouser, I want to reveal how the violence of history left him so many scars that can not be erased.
Are you self taught in film directing ?
Definitely not. I was mentored by Dieter Deswarte and Katharine Round in UCL, both of them were great filmmakers and nice people. Dieter's film Tuesday with James is top 5 documentaries in my list. I rewatch it every few months.
My spiritual mentor is Kazuhiro Soda. I stand in a similar position with him about film philosophy. My current way of filmmaking is close to his ten disciplines.
How did the story of Peter Foo touch you and how was the connection with him achieved ?
A character film of an old man can always be a film full of the past. To gaze at both the repatriation and Peter's past in the present, I led Peter to interact with another victim of the deportation, the people who lived in where he was born, and anywhere or anyone could remind him of those distant memories. And through the way he retrospected regrets in his life, we got the chance to see his deep self. To defend all the pain that came to him, he became indifferent, radical, and bad-tempered. This is what we saw in the film. But if we come back to the very beginning, the year 1946 when everything started to vanish, and look at the overview of his experience, this is just another ''rosebud'' story----one was deprived of the vital love at his very young age and never recapture it in a lifelong chase.
What is the target audience of your project ?
I especially hope the second generation of Asian immigrants love my film. I hope I could give each of them a hug.
FUTURE WORK AND CLOSING LETTER
What is the message the audience should convey leaving the screening of your film ?
They are free to understand this film in any way. I hope it's a beautiful film for them.
Is there any update on the story of Peter Foo after the documentary was released ?
1)The UK government admitted the deportation last year.
2)Peter now lived with his grandson. He was good when the film screened in Liverpool.(2022.09.27)
Any future projects incoming ? Along with personal aspirations.
I've followed a drama teacher for a year. This is a long-term film production.
His name is Huang. He founded a drama club in College and has run it for 38 years. His real job is College teacher, and working for the drama club doesn't give him a penny. Yet he has done it for 38 years. In his words, the drama club is to create a "clean space" for him and students, so they know there is somewhere white is white, black is black. Drama is both a way to escape from the depressing reality, and a declaration to revolt the world calls black white.
He will retire in 2023. And the film is about "ending". Not only his career, but also some golden time that never come back.
That was the interview with our beloved creator Muki Zhang. Our community is rising everyday, new talented filmakers and screenwriters get onboard. Be sure to check the rest of our interviews and why not schedule one for yourself to promote your work. To publish an interview simply submit on the INTERVIEW OF YOUR FILM category on our Filmfreeway page.
