Author: Wang Zhen
Although China’s first film “Dingjun Mountain” was born in 1905, it was counted from that year until “Labor’s Love” in 1922, and none of the Chinese films survived, or it has yet to be said. excavate.
In order to celebrate the “World Audiovisual Heritage Day”, on October 27th, the China Film Archive held the “Special Screening Event for the Centenary of the Birth of the Earliest Feature Film “Labor’s Love” in Chinese Film History and the First Launch of Cultural and Creative Products” at the Art Theater. “Love” 4K repaired version, released the series of cultural and creative products of “Labor’s Love”.
“Labor’s Love” series of cultural and creative products
A 22-minute silent film, the earliest surviving feature film in China
“Labor’s Love”, also known as “Tossing Fruits”, is a silent film with a length of only 22 minutes. It is the earliest Chinese film that can still be screened and the earliest existing feature film in China. The film is also China’s earliest film with the theme of love and free love. The film was shot by Star Film Company. Since the early films were shot with flammable nitro film, the films produced at the same time have disappeared except this film. Therefore, this film is the only direct material for the study of early Chinese films. At present, the copy of this film is collected in the China Film Archive.
Record of the Restoration Process of “Labor’s Love”
According to the data, “Labor’s Love” is one of the four series of films produced by Star Films at the beginning of its establishment in 1922. The other three films are “Funny King’s Journey to Shanghai”, “Big Trouble Theater” and “Zhang Xinsheng”. . These four films are all short plays with simple plots, and the theme of the film is funny.
“Labor’s Love” was filmed after the May 4th New Culture Movement and was influenced to a certain extent by the May 4th Movement. In the film, there is a scene where Zheng Carpenter proposes to Miss Zhu, and there is a “Can you marry me?” These scenes were quite avant-garde in China at that time, and they were incompatible with the traditional concept of marriage and love, which was ordered by the parents and the matchmaker. It was the first of its kind in Chinese love movies.
The screenwriter Zheng Zhengqiu showed his artistic skills in “Labor’s Love”. He vividly portrayed the three main characters Zheng Carpenter, Zhu Langzhong and Miss Zhu with exaggerated and coordinated body language. The action design of the characters in the film is succinct and humorous, and the shooting scenes are smooth and clear, which is an excellent work of early silent films.
Comparison before and after restoration of “Labor’s Love”
It is reported that since March this year, the restored version of “Labor’s Love” has successively appeared at the 26th Hong Kong International Film and Television Festival, the Chinese Film Joint Booth of the Cannes International Film Festival in France, the 36th Quest Film Festival in Bologna, Italy, and the “China Film Festival” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Film Festival” and “China Film Festival” in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Especially at the 36th Exploring Lost Film Festival, “Labor’s Love” was screened together with three treasures of short films, which were also shot in 1922 in Russia, France and the United States, to form the “One Hundred Years Ago: 1922” unit.
“Labor’s Love” stimulates creativity and creativity
Audiovisual archives are an important cultural heritage. In 2005, UNESCO designated October 27 as the “World Day for Audiovisual Heritage”.
On the night of the event, two consecutive screenings of the 4K restored versions of “Labor’s Love” and “Children of Jianghu” were held in the first hall of the Art Cinema of the China Film Archive. Sun Xianghui, director of the China Film Archive and director of the China Film Art Research Center, delivered a speech before the film screening. She said that since its establishment, the cultural and creative team of the China Film Archive has been adhering to the concept of “(film + archives) × cultural and creative”, and the goal is to make film archives not only visible but also touchable, so that ordinary audiences can Collect your own “cultural heritage”.
“Labor’s Love” Movie Figure Blind Box
On the day of the event, the “Labor’s Love” cultural and creative product was released for the first time, and a total of six “Labor’s Love” centennial series of cultural and creative products were sold at the event site. Among them, the most popular is the “Labor’s Love” movie character Chaowan. There are 3 types of blind boxes in this set. The three characters of Zheng Carpenter, Dr. Zhu and Dr. Zhu in the movie are restored with cute cartoon shapes.
The event site also launched a series of sweater trousers and jackets of “I solemnly wish ‘fu'”. The name of the series “Solemnly wish ‘service'” is also quite meaningful, which just corresponds to the names of the three characters in the movie. The back of the sweater is printed with hand-painted images of three movie characters. There is also an exclusive velcro space on the left arm of the jacket of “I solemnly wish ‘suit'”.
Velcro
The Archives simultaneously launched 3 “Interesting Posts” themed “Labor’s Love” on the same day, but this is only the beginning of the “Interesting Posts Project”. In the future, not only will more themed “Interesting Posts” be launched, but also school bags, etc. Other products that can paste “Interesting Posts”, and strive to make the “Interesting Posts Project” a cultural and creative product with lasting power.
Cultural and creative posters
Another “Labor’s Love” centennial poster is also very popular. Because there is no poster for the film to survive. The centennial poster this time was recreated by the designer based on the content of the film. It not only adopted the latest trendy design language, but also retained the hand-painted style of advertising in the Republic of China. The poster is printed in A3 size, which is convenient for fans to carry, and it can be inserted into the “poster clip” previously sold by the museum for convenient collection and decoration. (Wang Zhen)
[
责编：金凌冰 ]