interview | NeochaEDGE talks to beijing-based chinese youth culture documentarian ZHANG NEIXIN ///

We’re happy to announce that one of our favorite documentaries – “No Country for Old Man” – has finally completed a version with English subtitles. This independent film’s unique portrait of China’s youth generation is so dead-on that it is a must-see for anyone who wants the understand the dreams and pursuits of Chinese youth.

We recently caught up with “No Country for old Man” director Zhang Neixian for a chat. See below for excerpts from that conversation in which Zhang shares insights and stories about the film.

The film is currently only available as a P2P file that requires software such as Emule – download here: PC | Mac

With the proper software, you can download “No Country for Young Man” here; to add English subtitles, link here; for Chinese subtitles, link here.

Trust us, it’s worth the run-around to watch it.

For more from Zhang Neixian on NeochaEDGE, link here. /// cy

We all know the Oscar-winning film “No Country for Old Men,” and your film is named “No Country for Young Man” – is it a coincidence or is there a story behind this? What do you want to express with this English title?

Haha… The name of this film is pretty “shanzhai.” And I seem to have made a grammar mistake too. It should be “men” rather than “man.” While the Chinese name of the film translates to “Jobless Youth,” it’s not really about joblessness; it’s more about the confusion of China’s youth generation. So, I think the name “No Country for Young Man” resonates well with this theme.

It seems the film was made while you were in the process of casting for actors. In the documentary, you stay faithful to the exact words of the interviewees. What did you think of the young people you came across?

To be honest, I didn’t have a clear idea about them either. I was also curious about what they were thinking and what their lives were like. And the answers were really surprising! It’s always been difficult for me to define these young people observed through the camera, because everyone is so different. But what I do want to point out here is that, in this film, I looked at these young people from an objective perspective, rather than looking down or looking up at them. What I tried to express is how they think about themselves rather than how I think about them.

Did you ever think that this film would arouse such attention and discussion on the Internet in China? What do you think about the commentary from Chinese netizens?

I never expected the film to be so popular, but I did expect there to be some discussion. My original idea was to make it sort of experimental, neither film nor documentary; maybe you can call it a “phoney-mentary.” I don’t know how to define it really, but there is a comment from someone online that perfectly describes the film – “This film is not intended to tell us anything, rather, its goal is to make us share what we think with others.”

Tell us some behind the scenes stories from making the film.

The filming process was pretty dull actually. Most of the time I took a DV camera around and talked with the interviewee face to face, one by one. Well, let’s talk about why I made the film. When we were still planning the film, I just wanted to do something with my two buddies during the 2008 summer holiday. And actually, it wasn’t me who brought up the idea, it was Fang Zhou. Because we had shot a lot of live videos in the past few years, so he said, “Let’s make a documentary!” I remember this exact moment, we were eating lamb kebabs in our dorm and I didn’t have any money with me, so I thought, I couldn’t tell him no while he also picked up my tab for the kebabs…so, I said yes!

In the very beginning we planned to shoot some bands and fashionable people, and we did do this to some extent. This part was done even before shooting the main plot. I remember us shooting Wang Mo who does graffiti in the film and the lead singer in Rui Wangfen at this time. The interviews were aimless though. Later, I thought it was all too cluttered and theme-less. I thought, why not design a plot and link all these stories together? So I wrote a decent script and asked my friends to revise for me.

I’ll come clean with you. This script was written purely so I could meet hot chicks. I just wanted to find some girls to shoot S&M scenes. I said to Yu Ran to find a beautiful girl, but then he brought his own girlfriend here! Well, she wasn’t really his girlfriend, just some random girl who he played games with on the Internet and that was also their first time meeting each other. The male character, Ji Shuo, was my high school classmate. We chose Fang Zhou’s spare room as the shooting location, which is aa very dirty staff dormitory down in Da Zhongshi. Gradually, all these parts contributed to what is now, well, just an odd film.

So, did any of your inner thoughts about yourself / life change before and after shooting this film?

Not much. Please don’t assign me to any of the roles in the film…

As to their dreams, what advice would you give to these young people?

To think independently and live independently.

Tell us about your university life? Is it much the same with the film?

Haha… I didn’t spend much time in university. I was just fooling around. I didn’t know many of my classmates, and they didn’t know me. So I can’t really tell you much about “university life.”

Will you shoot similar films in the future? Tell us about your future plans.

I don’t like shooting the same stuff, even though I can do a better job. As to the subject matter, this is not new at all. I just integrated a few new ideas into it.

Actually, I found it all to be quite boring. Several years ago people were talking about it, and now we are still talking about the same things. Ten years ago I was reading Han Han’s “The Three Doors” (三重门), now I’m still telling the same story. This is indeed pathetic. What if some people told you the same story again in ten years? Are we mad or is our society mad? The future of this nation is in our hands, whether they or we are willing or not. No matter what we turn out to be, the truth is that we will take over this society someday. Do we have any hope? I don’t know.