Entertainment

Low-budget laughs

By Han Bingbin (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-05 07:56

Making an indie film is hard enough, but bringing the story of a sex shopto the silver screen is a huge challenge, Han Bingbin discovers.

When Yun Jiang, the reckless Beijing boy, opened a sex toy shop in a gray old Beijing hutong, he launched a "revolution". His shop brought a modern social phenomenon into direct conflict with traditional values.

Well, that is the unconventional beginning of Red Light Revolution, a movie based on Yun's experiences. The comedy has helped to ease people's misunderstandings about sex shops, and to bring Yun back into the mainstream.

However, the movie's equally unconventional creators, Canadian director Sam Voutas and Chinese-Canadian producer Melanie Ansley, are still finding their way into the mainstream.

Voutas started writing the script in 2006. He and Ansley got the idea from noticing over the previous decade that there were more sex shops popping up in every corner of the city than McDonald's outlets.

However, because sex is still a taboo topic in Chinese society, the phenomenon attracted limited media coverage and inspired little public discussion. Ansley thought it was an ideal subject for a film.

"This was a fresh subject that no filmmakers had dealt with before," she said. "Besides, it had become a significant phenomenon that reflected China's rapid social changes."

Originally, Voutas and Ansley wanted to make a documentary about how sex shop owners had struggled against discrimination. But seeing problems ahead in getting real people to agree to appear before the camera, they finally realized that a feature film was a better option. After years devoted to serious documentary making, Voutas decided to do something funny, so the sex shop film would be a comedy.

"We just wanted to tell an entertaining story this time," Ansley said. "We wanted to show a part of China that foreigners don't usually see and Chinese don't pay much attention to."

Voutas said that even in a comedy they were able to explore issues surrounding the breaking of an old taboo. In the film a young sex shop owner is challenged by the more conservative values of an older generation, which sees his business as indecent and shameful.

"Well, that conflict of values made me think about what is more important in achieving success: the process or the result?" Voutas said. "People won't approve of a sex toy business owner's work until it is a success and making lots of money. But why can't they learn to appreciate the process behind the success?"

The scriptwriter said he found his own plight reflected in the story.

"Being an independent film director is like running a sex shop in that they both involve risks and sometimes you lose face," he said. "My parents think indie filmmaking is not a decent job. I think all of us have the same pressure: parents always expect you to follow the so-called normal way."

At least part of the concern felt by Voutas' parents is true. Being an indie film director is a risky business as you don't have the financial support of a proper institution or company. So you have to do a lot of work that most directors would not have to do. Voutas had to negotiate with sex toy companies for sponsorship of stage properties, and had to hire relatively unknown actors because of budget limitations.

Most of the investment in the film came from Voutas' and Ansley's personal savings.

"Although indie productions give you more freedom in how you shoot the film, they also mean being poor," Ansley said.

The film's lead actor, Zhao Jun, said the tight budget added some inconvenience to the shoot. For example, he said the actors had to live in poor conditions and that in the pursuit of efficiency Voutas gave the actors strict directions.

However, he added that working with a foreign director was enlightening, especially in learning new working methods.

The worst aspect, Zhao said, was that even before shooting started the producer told the actors that the film would only be shown abroad.

"I was worried that my family and friends wouldn't be able to see my performance," Zhao said. "I've already planned the worst: I will ask them to make a copy for me if the film isn't shown here."

But, hoping for the best, Zhao has tried hard to help the film get past China's strict censorship rules. For example, if he came across some inappropriate words in the script, he would ask the director to change them.

However, Zhao did not know that the movie could not even be sent for official registration. In China, only a company or an institution has the right to officially register a film project. That is why many indie productions, like Red Light Revolution, have often resorted to overseas markets.

Knowing that showing the film at clubs and bars in Beijing would hardly recover costs, Ansley looked to the foreign market. The film has been chosen for eight international film festivals so far, including well-regarded ones such as the Sao Paolo festival in Brazil.

Following its appearance on the global scene, overseas distributors showed interest in it. After signing with a Canadian distributor, Ansley said the film will be shown publicly there. Ansley is still negotiating for Red Light Revolution to be released in the US and Singapore.

Ansley's previous productions, including three documentaries directed by Voutas - The Last Breadbox (2001), Shanghai Bride (2006) and Dragon Sons and Phoenix Daughters (2007) - were only targeted at overseas markets.

But this time she's pushing for domestic distribution. Attending international film festivals was an effective way to promote the film in the domestic market.

The goal, she said, was to attract the attention of domestic distributors and, even if the film cannot be shown in Chinese cinemas, someone would distribute it on DVD. As well, she is now looking to video websites.

"I heard during the Hong Kong International Film Festival that China's cinema audience has reached 20 million while that on the Internet is now 450 million," she said.

"Since it's so hard and expensive to bring our movies to cinemas, why not resort to the Internet? The Old Boy was a success that way.

"Another reason that I want this movie to be seen by a bigger domestic audience is to break the stereotype that indie movies are not good enough. Sure, there are bad indie productions, but indie itself isn't a label for poor quality."

(China Daily 05/05/2011 page)