This year’s 78th Golden Globe Awards have been announced, and unsurprisingly, “Normadland” (also known as “No Country” in Chinese) won two awards: Best Director and Best Picture for Chloe Zhao, plus one for Best Cinematography. Joshua James Richards, the cinematographer and live-in partner of Chloe Zhao, won two awards: Best Director and Best Picture for Chloe Zhao, plus one for Best Cinematography. While she was delighted, it was unfortunate that another fellow dubbing artist, Michael Wolf Snyder, died a few days ago at a young age. She sadly recited the lines, “My friend, I’ll see you on the road!”
Studying in the UK and US on the path to film and theater
In early March, People magazine noted that Zhao Ting’s award was a welcome addition to Women’s History Month, which is celebrated every March in the United States. The magazine also said that Ting is the second to Barbara Streisand, who has become another female director to win a Golden Globe since 1983. In addition, American theater people would say that she is an example of Spike Lee’s famous teacher making a great student; Chinese people in general would say that she is the second to Ang Lee; Chinese film fans in mainland China would say that she is the embodiment of Wang Jiawei, and some even mistake her as the biological daughter of Song Dan Dan, “Like mother, like daughter”! In my humble opinion, the vast majority of Chinese people do well in the U.S. Zhao Ting is just a young person with an independent personality and a hard-working, studious attitude who has done well.
Ting was born in Beijing to a Family with a background as the head of a state-run organization. She was sent to a boarding school in England in the 1990’s, when she was just 28 years old, to attend secondary school in a rising economy in China, where everyone wanted their children to become a family. Her college Education was completed at Mount Holyoke College, a historic girls’ school in Massachusetts, USA. Majoring in political science, she learned about and cared for social issues. When she reached graduate school, she chose to receive professional training at the New York University (NYU) School of Arts and Drama, where she received her master’s degree, and then put her studies to good use by pursuing a career in theater.
In the film, except for the lead actress (center), the crowd actors performed very realistic. (Associated Press)
Controversial remarks won the award film banned from landing
The above-mentioned personal biography is the general public’s understanding of her. However, due to an exclusive interview conversation once circulated on the internet, it triggered a sharp controversy. Back in 2013, Filmmaker magazine published a transcript in which Zhao Ting said, “…… to start with as a child in China, which is a place full of lies …… I received as a child A lot of the information I received as a child was incorrect, and I started to become very rebellious about my family and my background. So I suddenly went to England and re-studied my history. Studying political science at a liberal arts college was a way for me to figure out the nature of things. Arm yourself with information and then challenge it.” A bomb fell from the sky! This record, though, has been redacted. On March 5, the Chinese government announced that it had imposed personal sanctions (Censor) on her, and the release of her award-winning film in China on April 23, two days before the Academy Awards, was cancelled.
After the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy, Chinese society has undergone a dramatic change. Zhao Ting is part of the new generation of the “post-80s”, and with her strong personality, she inevitably betrays her family elders. When the Parents did not get along with each other and divorced, the children in the middle of the relationship had a hard Time expressing their grievances. The interview above is a half-truth, in my opinion. Just like the story of her film, it is also half true and half false. How easy is it for a girl to “suddenly go to England” on her own? Can she do it without the support of her family? She was the apple of her father’s eye, but she made him sad and upset; and for her, the loss of her parents’ love since childhood made her go further and further away.
Zhao Ting (right) on the set of the film opposite the female lead. (Associated Press)
Working after college to earn a living on her own
During the time when she went to college and graduate school, she did not want the help of her family and made a living on her own. She worked in restaurants and bars, and also worked in stores and real estate companies. She has publicly stated that she is not the type of person who “eats her own money”. She has a strong personality, a strong opinion, and the ability to act on it. Now, she has lived in a foreign country for longer than she has lived in China, and she is famous for it.
Com. Au last year, she said, “My country is now my country. (US is now my country, ultimately), which drew an unpatriotic scolding. Recently, the radio station invited experts to analyze the audio-visual technology and the context, and decided that what she said was actually (US is not my country, ultimately.), and corrected it. I think the correction is correct. With her determined character, she still insists on her independent thinking and opinion, despite her heart of Home; but some people took the opportunity to joke that the film that won the award, whether translated as “Land of the Unwanted” or “Old and Unwanted”, seems to be about her own legend!
Since 2008, she has made a short film every year, and has been nominated for or won small awards at local film festivals. In 2015, Songs My Brother Taught Me, a film about an Indian community on a minority reservation in South Dakota, was nominated or awarded at the Film Festivals. She was nominated for Best Writer-Director at the Cannes Film Festivals. Two years later, she shot “The Rider,” a story about a wounded rider competing in a bullfight, in a nearby location known as the Badlands. Last year, it won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Welsh Film Festival. Screening rights were purchased by Sony Pictures.
The film’s leading lady, Fern, is played by two-time Academy Award star Frances McDormand. (Associated Press)
The work is based on hard struggle
Next, it is the “Nomadic Life” that won the Golden Globe this time. It is a modern-day true story about a group of people who have no fixed residence, occupation, life, and social life, written by journalist Jessica Bruder, has been a best-seller for a long time. It was adapted and directed by Ting Zhao. My personal opinion is that the casting and arrangement of the film is very similar to the 1992 film “Qiu Ju Fights a Lawsuit” directed by Zhang Yimou. The main character, Qiu Ju, is played by a big-name star, Gong Li, while the other characters are real-life “shows”. The film’s leading lady, Fern, is played by two-time Academy Award star Frances McDormand, an ace thrown out by the writer-director. To “act”, she is the only one. Fern has a famous quote, “People say she’s Homeless, but she’s just Houseless. Although there is no house to live in, she has a warm home in her heart. Look at the friends she has made, they are just like family, happy to live their lives. It can also be said that “within the four seas are brothers”! I hope this film will shine again at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
Zhao Ting’s works are all stories of hardship and happiness in the midst of hardship, perhaps related to her personality and encounters. She also has a new film “Eternals” (Eternals), scheduled to be completed on November 5 this year, and will be released by Amazon Studio. That is adapted from the 1949 “Deputy Marshall” film, the main character Bass Reeves (1838-1910) is an African-American police officer, his life arrested more than 3,000 people, but also accidentally killed 14 people. Beyond the film, there are comics and books about a group of unsung heroes. Ting Zhao’s next film is highly anticipated after winning a Golden Globe.
Ting Zhao (from left) and director of photography communicate with the female lead on set. (Associated Press)
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