Interview with the producer of the first film about the Hani
people presented at Filmfest Munich
The Communist Party of China declared in 2011 that poverty has been succesfuly eradicated in China. No wonder the film "Hani" with the world premiere at Tallin Black Nights and presented as a German premiere at Filmfest Munich has not yet been screened in China.
Director and screenwriter Hou Dasheng presents the story of a boy who belongs to the old community by the name of Hani.
But who are the Hani people? The Hani, or Ho or Hà Nhì, are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group. They form one of the 56 officially recognized nationalities of the People's Republic of China.
The director traveled with his mother to the Ailao Mountains where he met the Hani people. He got interested in their faith, their customs and in general their way of living.
This is the first film about the Hani. The young actors are not acting, they simple live their lives.
The protagonist, his name is also Hani tries to excape the poverty of his remoted village in the mountain area near the Chinese-Myanmar border. At the same time his biggest wish is to marry his friend Pushiha. This is what he is longing for, but he is poor, and therefore not suitable for the family of Pushiha, who are trading her as they are also poor.
This is a movie about resilience and to never give up hope.
I interviewed Halcyon Feng, the producer of the film at Filmfest Munich.
Watch the vidéo interview here: https://youtu.be/pddiaOXJefY?si=6ZPqrk1H9r1Kj8E6
1.Was there a personal experience/event that prompted ? 有没有什么个人经历促使了您创作这部电影呢？
This all begins from when I was conducting ethnographic fieldwork,it brings me deep into the Ailao Mountains, where I observed the living conditions of the Hani people. This film marks the lives of nearly six million Hani people have appeared on the big screen for the first time.
2.What was the biggest challenge with this film? （创作/拍摄）这部电影最大的挑战是什么？
With a budget of only €13,000, I had to figure out and ensure that every penny was used efficiently to complete the film. The children in the film were all non -professional actors, which made the shooting process unlimitedly longer. Moreover, I couldn’t understand their language, so we just relied on expressions and emotions to determine that if a scene captured the performance I envisioned.
3.What inspired you to create Hani? 是什么激发了您创作《哈尼》的灵感？
To me, the fate of the Hani people is crystal clear: growing up without parents; leaving school after just learning to write their names in Mandarin; getting married at 14 to 16 years old and having one or more children; working as migrant workers while they’re still young, contributing to the world’s demand for cheaper goods; Then continuing leaving their children in the village to inherit this destiny cycle. On a broader scale, China’s ethnic classification policies largely stem from Stalin -era Soviet practices. Observing how similar the policies impact Europe today like the conflict, we can still see shadows of the policies. It makes me worry about the future implications to its neighboring ethnic groups and China. This concern inspired me to make this film.
4.The main characters, Hani and Pushkar, are very young but face complex life decisions. How did you manage to see such mature themes like marriage and dowry through the eyes of children? 片中主角年纪尚轻，却面临复杂的人生抉择。您是如何通过孩子的视角处理婚姻和嫁妆等成熟主题的？ Personally I believe that there’s no child’s perspective or feminist perspective in this context, especially among left-behind children. As portrayed in the film, they are forced to make decisions at the age of 12 to 16 that most people face at 25 to 30. I am 35 now, and in real life, the father of the film’s protagonist became a grandfather at this age. The harsh reality behind this is what Pujuan’s father (who played Pushha) told me: if they don’t make the girls get married while they’re still mentally immature, these girls will eventually see the outside world, then they will never choose to find a partner or have children. That’s how he became a grandfather at 35.
5.How did select the actors for such young roles? 您是如何为这些年轻角色挑选演员的？
I have to appreciate my grandmother. During winter, I would take her to warmer places, and she accompanied me to the Hani region during pre-production. Determined to cast local children, I arrived two months early to find suitable candidates. We drove across the valley, visiting every primary and secondary school, observing children from a high place as they left school. After screening around 3,000 children, I found the Hani I was looking for. Finding Pushiha was even harder. One evening, while driving my grandmother back home, we passed a terraced field where I saw her waiting for her father cuz Months earlier, he had promised to return on that day. The look of expectation in her eyes convinced me instantly that she was the one. Later, both Hani and Pushiha admitted they initially distrusted outsiders like me but dropped their guard upon seeing me with an elderly woman. Eventually, they grew close to my grandmother, unfortunately,she didn’t live to see the film’s premiere.
6.What were the main challenges in directing child actors in such a sensitive narrative? 在这样的敏感叙事当中，指导儿童演员面临的主要挑战是什么？
I’m deeply grateful to my young actors. They weren’t acting; they were simply living their lives. For me,this is the highest form of performance. We didn’t need much verbal communication—I only needed to capture their raw emotions. As for so-called “sensitive,” it’s just their reality. Life, as often shown, is harsher than film.
7.The film explores the tension between tradition and modern values, especially in shaping the lives of young people. How do you see this tension playing out in contemporary Chinese society? 这部电影探讨了传统价值观与现代价值观之间（矛盾与冲突）的张力，尤其是如何影响年轻一代的生活。 您认为这种冲突在当代中国社会中是如何体现的？
This is a grand question, I’ll try to explain through a specific observation. Twenty years ago, the most educated person in the village was the village chief. Twenty years later, he becomes the least educated. This reflects the replacement of one authority by another. When such ideological upheavals occur within a single generation, the resulting pain is immense. I’ve read(similar struggle) parallels in the book of Second hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich. Among the Hani, traditional animist beliefs coexist with Christianity, shaping daily life and production. (Since the Qing dynasty, European missionaries introduced Christianity to Yunnan. You’ll notice crosses tattooed on every child in the film) Now, it leaves a vacuum of faith since these beliefs are overshadowed by some unknown unspoken but stronger authority. Young people, faced with such upheaval, often choose to let it slide. As an outsider, it’s difficult to judge their choices by conventional morality or rules. To quote a poet from the Evenki ethic group: “If the police from a more civilized world want to shoot me, then so be it.”.
8.As Hani marks your feature film debut, how has this project influenced your creative direction?作为您的首部故事长片，《哈尼》会如何影响您的创作方向？
Filming Hani profoundly influenced me. As a Han majority ethnic group, it’s hard to truly empathize with the struggles of minorities. But Hani gave me a valuable lens to reflect on myself through the perspective of a minority. It is often through exploring boundaries that we come to understand our own identity. This is my third film on ethnic issues—the other two focus on Tibetans and Hongkongers.In my view, the identity of Hong Kong people is gradually emerging through pain, and I want to explore this theme further.
9.As Hani marks your feature film debut, how has this project influenced your creative direction? 您作为导演未来的规划是什么？
In China, film requires a “Dragon Seal” approval to enter theaters. Hani bypass this system by using guerrilla filmmaking technics.To this day, the film doesn’t officially exist in China for most audiences. Other directors joke that making films in China is like dancing in shackles. But I’m not interested in shackles—I just want to dance freely. Whether I can continue depends on luck. If I’m lucky, I’ll keep making films. If not, I’ll find a job, save money, and make the next film guerrilla -style.
10.这部电影关注了儿童婚姻和儿童权利等重要社会问题。您希望观众从这个故事中获得什么样的信息？
I have an interesting perspective: if the Hani children watched The 400 Blows by François Truffaut, they would envy the boy in the film. A big-city household registration, living with parents, and no worries about education—what a life! As Gabriel García Márquez said: “Over there, on the other side of the river, there are magical machines of every kind, while we live like donkeys.
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