Shenzhen Daily: What theme did you want to convey in Sunflower?

Zhang Yang: The film is very much related to my personal experience. The story focuses on the relationship between a father and son in a changing society between the 1970s and the 1990s. It presents the changes over time through the family’s experience against a bigger social backdrop.

S: In the movie, the two generations can’t get along with each other. Why?

Z: The father, an artist, returns home to be reunited with his wife and his 9-year-old son after spending six years in prison during the Cultural Revolution. But the son does not recognize his father and is deeply disturbed by this new presence in his life. The father is traditional and holds onto principles that don’t mean much to his son. This fuels confrontations between parent and child. The son becomes a renowned artist in the end of the movie. Eventually, he begins to understand his father after he becomes a father.

S: Which scene impressed you most?

Z: Refusing to acknowledge his clearly burgeoning talent in painting, the son lets a firecracker blow up in his hand as a desperate attempt to stop his father’s dream.

S: How long did you spend on the movie?

Z: Four years from writing the screenplay through shooting. I wanted to move the story to the screen 10 years ago and I finally did it.

S: Are you satisfied with the result?

Z: Yes. I got lots of pressure from investors. They invested more than 12 million yuan (US$1.48 million). Luckily we got good feedback. The presence of Joan Chen (a Chinese actress renowned for her role in Oliver Stone’s Heaven and Earth) helps a lot in promoting the film to audiences in the United States and Canada.

S: Do you think the 129-minute running time could be too long for some audiences not familiar with the story’s background?

Z: I’m considering making a shorter version for audiences in other countries.

Tan Xiaomi

Sailing the water of post-Cultural Revolution reminiscence, celebrated director Zhang Yang appeared at the Shenzhen premiere of his latest work, Sunflower, which won the Best Director award at Spain’s San Sebastian film festival late September. The Shenzhen Daily interviewed the 38-year-old director following the opening.

(Shenzhen Daily October 20, 2005)