The total length of the Guizhou Mahuai Tunnel is 216 meters, which is the only way for the villagers to be happy to the outside world. In the past, a mountain separated the children’s way to study, the youth’s way out to seek happiness, and the old people’s life-saving way. Here, the mountains even blocked the sunrise and sunset. , making the night longer than the outside world, here is an inconspicuous village in the vast mountains of Guizhou – Mahuai Village.
But today, Ma Huai’s name is known to everyone in Guizhou, just because an ordinary rural woman, a foreigner who married into Ma Huai because of love, spent 13 years digging a tunnel of only 216 meters , smashed the blockade of poverty in Mahuai Village for generations, and also carved out a new path for Mahuai people to get rich.
This is the deeds of Deng Yingxiang, a “contemporary female fool” from Mahuai Village, Moyang Town, Luodian County, Guizhou Province, the prototype of the character in the movie “Across a Mountain”. “Her Power” on Chinese screens In 2018, on the “1017 National Poverty Alleviation Day”, the story told by Deng Yingxiang moved a young director Wang Yinuo in the audience. Looking at Deng Yingxiang in Buyi costume on the stage, listening to her Because of the mountains, she couldn’t take her child out for medical treatment, lost her first child, and let her little life be ruined on the long mountain road. Listening to her talk about her 13-year mountain-digging journey in a few minutes, she led Deng Yingxiang, a villager who is actively getting rid of poverty and becoming rich, and Wang Yinuo were deeply moved. The few minutes of this story are a woman’s 13 years of hardship and perseverance. After the meeting, Wang Yinuo got acquainted with Deng Yingxiang, who seemed honest and down-to-earth, kind and friendly.
When we met for the first time this time, Deng Yingxiang’s personal experience became an inspiring force, stirring in Wang Yinuo’s heart for a long time. She made an appointment with Secretary Deng, and boarded a plane to Mahuai, Deng Yingxiang’s hometown.
When he really entered Ma Huai and walked through the tunnel full of a woman’s struggle all her life and the hope of a village, Wang Yinuo held Deng Yingxiang’s hand and tears filled her eyes. She is determined to put this story on the big screen of Chinese movies, so that more people can feel the spirit of daring to think and do it from the screen, and gain the power to inspire themselves.
Nine years into Guizhou with this original intention in mind, Wang Yinuo immediately organized a core team and wrote the first draft of the movie script himself. With the film script in its infancy, Wang Yinuo came to Guizhou for the second time. With the core team organized at his own expense, he did the first time in Guizhou to collect music. The practical significance of the “Ma Huai enthusiasm” to overcome difficulties in the rolling mountains of Guizhou.
However, film requires the coordination and cooperation of all parties, as well as financial support. After a visit to Guizhou, Wang Yinuo realized the difficulty of a film defined as the “main theme” in the market, not being favored by investors, not encouraged by peers, and not to Being favored by the market, the passionate creation cannot pass the market’s rational analysis and consideration after all. She swallowed the incomprehensible grievance in her stomach.
In order to add more elements that fit the market, Guizhou has become Wang Yinuo’s “second hometown”. After more than a year of painstaking script revision and seeking investment without giving up, what ushered in was not the joy of first hope, but the epidemic that swept the world. An epidemic has brought countless small and micro enterprises to the brink of extinction, and it has also caused a huge impact on the film and television industry. Wang Yinuo, who is both an entrepreneur and a creator in the film and television industry, also suffered a double blow. Her own savings for many years have been exhausted. She is really under the dual pressure of supporting the company and sticking to her original dream.
The company needs to survive with difficulty, and countless people asked her to give up the creation of this theme and persuaded her to devote more energy to commercial films recognized by the market. When he faintly thought of giving up, a phone call with Deng Yingxiang allowed Wang Yinuo to withstand the pressure and continue to persevere.
During the phone call, Deng Yingxiang, who is well aware of the impact of the epidemic, said: “Sister, I know it is difficult for you to do this, but no matter how difficult it is, it is no more difficult than my sister who dug a cave back then. I believe you will persevere, persevere…”
These words reminded her of the enthusiasm and encouragement she felt when she first heard about Deng Yingxiang’s deeds, and she also decided to use her last savings to stick to her original aspiration. So in the two years since 2019, under the relentless barrier of the epidemic, Wang Yinuo stepped into Guizhou land nine times, successively in Guiyang, Weng’an, Kaili, Sandu, Libo, Anshun, Xingyi, Zunyi and many other places Scenery was collected in many villages, looking at the rapeseed flowers, there are piles of unique mountains, eating authentic village dishes, her books have been taken by hand, dirty and old, I don’t know how many details have been revised, 2022 At the beginning of the year, the project was formally approved.
five year commitment
In 2021, after spending all his savings and selling his house to subsidize the company’s crew, the three years of unchanging his original intention also made some industry seniors and caring entrepreneurs see the value of this young director’s persistence. In the year when the battle against poverty was won in an all-round way, Wang Yinuo accidentally met Zhang Yichun, an outstanding entrepreneur who was the “honorary village head” of Mahuai Village at the time, and learned of Wang Yinuo’s many difficulties. “Deeply moved. Young people need help, encouragement, and even more real support. Back then, who didn’t walk along the way. Chairman Zhang Yichun decided to contribute to Ma Huai, but also hopes to help young directors dream! The three foreigners who are concerned about Ma Huai finally joined forces to realize their original intention of bringing the film containing “Ma Huai’s energy” and “Guizhou Spirit” to the big screen.
However, funds were still scarce, and Wang Yinuo had rekindled hope at this time. She was cheeky and told the story of Deng Yingxiang everywhere, telling her determination. Successively, several entrepreneurs with the same sentiments joined in. Wang Yinuo and the production team calculated with their fingers, and the filming was ready to start! So she told each team: Our funds are really tight, and I sincerely hope that the teachers in each department can understand that we try to use all available methods to save money and ensure a smooth completion.
After pre-crew preparations and consultations with the local government, in November 2021, the crew of “Beyond a Mountain” was formally established in Guizhou. The prop teacher went to the villagers’ homes as guests, and the villagers also enthusiastically helped the crew provide old life. Supplies, because many shooting scenes are in mountains and caves, it is necessary to ensure safety without delaying the progress of shooting. When filming the cave, in order to enhance the effect of the torch, the prop teacher could only use diesel to make up for it. Everyone’s masks and faces were blackened by smoke, and the cave was cold, and the young female director began to lose resistance. , Fever, pneumonia, speech began to go out of tune. The production team was anxiously worried that the director would not be able to persist, so Wang Yinuo insisted on carrying it. At the scene, some previously designed scenes could not be realized according to the actual conditions. Wang Yinuo pulled the executive director and director of photography to make impromptu performances on the spot, decisively changing the scenes and plots, and exerting his excellent emergency response ability as a director. In just one month, after shooting four main scenes in Luodian County, Huishui County, Xingyi City, and Mahuai Village, and four major transitions, it was getting dark early in the mountains of Guizhou, and the crew competed with the sky every day. Every second counts. At the beginning of 2022, Wang Yinuo led the production team and various departments of the crew to successfully complete all filming of the film. The girl who supported herself by perseverance and willpower felt relieved at this moment.
In 2022, director Wang Yinuo and producers Wenjiang and Zhang Xinrong personally participated in and supervised post-editing, music production and other post-production work. With the end of the three-year epidemic, the movie “Beyond a Mountain” was also successfully released. license, and is scheduled to be released nationwide on March 20, 2023. Wang Yinuo, it took her five years to finally fulfill her promise.
Five years is not easy, but worth it
As said at the end of the film, Deng Yingxiang is not a single person, but a group of people condensed the incomparably precious spiritual power of the Chinese nation, and it is also the ambition and beauty of women in the new era. The story of Deng Yingxiang continues. She leads more people to walk with the times and win a brilliant life. After the impact of the epidemic recedes, positive energy films show unique spiritual power and win a place in the film market. Director Wang Yinuo also firmly believes that “Across the Mountain” will be a new beginning. Although she can only make a small-budget film at this stage, the true feelings of this film make people full of hard work! Full of tears of emotion. But in the future, I believe that there will be more inspirational films praising piety, perseverance and extraordinary tenacity on the big screen, so that more audiences can draw infinite power to inspire themselves from the true meaning of life interpreted by kind nature and great love in the world!
Congratulations to secretary Deng Yingxiang and to the young female director Wang Yinuo. What they present is a kind of love, regardless of their own gains and losses, illuminating the lives of others, existing like light.