Chinese Young Filmmaker's Debut Feature Film Shortlisted for the Tokyo International Film Festival

Debut Feature Film, World Premiere

On September 25, 2024, the feature film "The Vessel’s Isle", directed by Wang Di, produced by Xu Ruijing, co-produced by Han Sanming, and produced by TWELVE OAKS FILM ART INC (USA), was shortlisted for the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival's "Asian Future Section" and held its "World Premiere" during the film festival.

The 37th Tokyo International Film Festival was held from October 28th to November 6th. The "World Premiere" of "The Vessel’s Isle" was screened at 7 p.m. on Sunday, November 3rd at TOHO Cinema Chanter in Tokyo, Japan. Audiences from around the world immersed themselves in this 180-minute film and enjoyed this masterpiece of ultimate aesthetics from Yunnan, China together.

Caption: The poster of "The Vessel’s Isle" for the Tokyo International Film Festival

After Three Years, "The Whale That Doesn't Swim in the Sea" Sets Sail

Over the past three years, honors in the world of film and television have witnessed the growth path. "The Vessel’s Isle" won the "Best Director Award of the Developing Film Project · Yimei Xinghai" at the 5th Pingyao International Film Festival and was selected for the "HAF Goes to Cannes" film project of the 20th Hong Kong Asian Film Financing Forum. The world premiere of the completed work was held in the Asian Future Section of the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival. In order to participate in the event in Tokyo, the film underwent several adjustments in aspects such as shooting, music composition, and color grading, and finally formed a complete project. However, it has been three years since the shooting.

Producer Xu Ruijing said, "Starting from Pingyao, setting sail again from Hong Kong, emerging in Cannes, and finally officially starting the next journey in Tokyo. For the 'The Vessel’s Isle' team, there were many firsts. Finally, after three years, we can give an answer to all those who have helped us and had expectations of us. We insisted on the integrity of 'The Whale' and retained the final duration of 180 minutes; we insisted on the beauty of 'audio-visual', so we spent 10 months creating a whole original soundtrack (OST), 4 months on sound creation, and 4 months on refining the color grading; we insisted on waiting for a real big screen to fully experience a work. We are very grateful to all those who can spend 3 hours with us in front of the screen. So many lives will converge here."

The picture is officially taken by TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival)

New and Rising Force Swimming Towards the Blue Ocean

The film "The Vessel’s Isle" is director Wang Di's debut feature film. Two of the main actors, Zhu Congran and Ye Zhaoyue, participated in the shooting of a feature film for the first time. The other main actors, Han Sanming, Ji Yunxiao, and Li Lixian, were all touched by the creativity and persistence of this young team. In a small town in Yunnan, they completed this poetic film together with the team. The main creative team of this film is from Yunnan, and the story was filmed entirely in Yangzonghai, Kunming. These young people with film dreams used the camera to tell the story of a small town in Yunnan.

The film tells the story of people who have never met before meeting in the town of Qinghong at an unknown time node. The boy from the city is searching for something he has lost, but accidentally meets a mysterious girl with a camera and falls into a short and drowsy dream. The young people in the town have fantasies and impulses about love; the hotel owner occasionally immerses himself in his own neon world; the mute drunkard wanders around and observes this area... The old lady is still sitting on the long bench, the old train shuttles through the mountains and forests, and the whistle resounds in every morning and night, entering the dreams of countless people.

This young and professional force from Yunnan insists on creating excellent video works and is active in many film festivals, such as the Shanghai International Film Festival, the FIRST Youth Film Festival, and the Pingyao International Film Festival. The production company has also established the Twelve Oaks Art Center in Yunnan and the cultural IP creation section of Twelve Oaks Film Industry. It has long-term cooperation with domestic and foreign distribution companies and film producers, and is committed to spreading various excellent video works. At the same time, it is deeply involved in the production and production of films, aiming to do a good job in film production for excellent works and seek larger and more distant partners and cooperation forms.

The picture is officially taken by TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival)

Tokyo Moment, the Scene of Light and Shadow

"Audience members must hold on until the last ten minutes of the film, and spring will come." This is the recommendation from Mr. Yoji Yamada, the chairman of the selection committee of the Asian Future Section of the Tokyo Film Festival, after watching "The Vessel’s Isle". On September 25th, the feature film "The Vessel’s Isle" directed by Wang Di, produced by Xu Ruijing, co-produced by Han Sanming, and produced by TWELVE OAKS FILM ART INC (USA) was shortlisted for the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival's "Asian Future Section". The premiere was held during the film festival from November 3rd to 5th.

The picture is officially taken by TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival)

Filmmakers' Self-narration, the Growth Path

As the producer of this film, Xu Ruijing is a native of Yunnan. On the road to pursuing her film dream, she feels very lucky. In 2020, after graduating and returning to China, Xu Ruijing truly entered the film industry. "Maybe many people have been making films all their lives, but they may not have the opportunity to be shortlisted for a film festival." But the first feature film she produced achieved this. Looking back on the filming time in 2021, Xu Ruijing's key word is "decisiveness". It only took 21 days from the decision to shoot this film to the start of filming. Xu Ruijing and the main creative team needed to test the filming locations, and they even replaced the lead actor before the start of filming.

The picture is officially taken by TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival)

Director Wang Di graduated from Yunnan Arts University. He was only 23 years old and had just graduated from university when he directed this film. Xu Ruijing met Wang Di when he was a sophomore. Wang Di is taciturn and not good at writing. He wants to present more visual expressions rather than through guidance and comparison, which is also Wang Di's strong personal style. Their first cooperation was "The Vessel’s Isle". "The main creative team's idea at that time was very simple. At the end of that youth and summer, they wanted to express the beauty in their imagination, insert some styles they absolutely wanted to express, and had a strong determination to do this thing well. The story is not linear. The male and female protagonists accidentally come to a small town, escape from their original living state, and develop feelings in the new place, but they are not necessarily completely bound together. Therefore, this film is like a poem. It is never a magnificent production, nor is it shot at a fixed point. Almost all the shots have a strong sense of movement, and the interaction between the shots and the characters is not completely fixed."

During the screening of this film at the Tokyo Film Festival, "The Vessel’s Isle" sparked heated discussions. In the three-hour-long film, "every shot is a long take of more than 8 minutes" became the core of the audience's heated discussion. Regarding this, Wang Di's idea is very simple. At the beginning of the shooting, there was no preset to use more long takes, but with the shooting scenes and the actors' expressions, the narrative language of long takes became possible. "Our idea is very simple. The audience also needs to be guided rather than catered to. We can accept the audience's likes and dislikes of these long take treatments." Wang Di also has a golden saying: "If you really can't get into it, you will leave within the first ten minutes."

The picture is officially taken by TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival)

An Adventurous Journey, Poetry and the Distance

When filming at the beginning, since it was everyone's debut feature film, the main creative team could be said to be all "newcomers". The only one with a film-related major was the director of photography, Pu Wei. In this very concentrated period of time, they cooperated with each other to complete a work. As the director of photography of this film, Pu Wei has an emotional bond with Yunnan and has explored the beautiful scenery and cultural customs of Yunnan by self-driving many times. The film was shot entirely in Yangzonghai, Kunming. The composition of the shots and the light and shadow well reflect the scenery and climate characteristics of the Yunnan Plateau, especially the preference for rainy scenes in the play.

Since he is a cinematographer who graduated from painting, Pu Wei is particularly persistent in the pursuit of the composition and proportion of the picture. In order to let the actors integrate better, Pu Wei told the actors during the shooting, "I am your eyes, so you can act boldly and confidently." Especially in the shooting of the last scene, a long take that lasted for more than ten minutes was shot until the sunset ended. After the director saw a different expression in the camera lens, he did not call a stop. Thus, there is the ending of this film, which is also what the selection committee chairman said, "Spring will come."

In addition, the original music producer of the film, Li Jiazheng, the singer of the ending song, Jingxi, and the art director, Zhang Ziqi, are all from Yunnan. The original music in the film is well integrated with the picture, and the ethereal and melodious voice at the end of the film is a beautiful omen of "spring coming".

Although the shooting cycle was less than a month, the shooting concept, script, and pre-production creation were the basis of the tacit understanding between Xu Ruijing and director Wang Di. Xu Ruijing compared the shooting of "The Vessel’s Isle" to "a hurdle" for everyone. Once they crossed it, they would suddenly see the light. As a producer, Xu Ruijing often needs to coordinate a film crew of dozens of people, deal with the scene, and arrange everyone well. For a film project, a producer needs to "follow it from start to finish". Xu Ruijing believes that the shooting period only accounts for 30% to 40%. More attention should be paid to where this work can go and how it can be seen. Xu Ruijing encourages young people who turn their love into a career to do what they want to do, but they should first support themselves and survive so that they have the space to figure out what they want and plan their lives better. "We also look forward very much to seeing more rich and diverse works brought by young filmmakers in Yunnan. Strangers meet in Qinghong Town, and a dream-like life flows between the night and the dawn. In life, images are an indispensable part. While recording our own experiences, we can also feel other people's lives as if we were on the scene. Probably, at this moment, I am eternal."

The picture is from TWELVE OAKS Twelve Oaks Art Center

It is worth mentioning that among the main creative team of the film, Gao Duoyong, a young representative of the Caiyunli Art Center, participated in the film festival work of the film "The Vessel’s Isle" as a special producer. This young and emerging artist has been immersed in a multicultural environment since childhood and has shown a mature aesthetic judgment that does not match his age. As a special production of this film, it is a new attempt of Caiyunli. Tracing back to the root, like the film, it is also a story that begins in Yunnan. The art of image and urban space have become the creative media, jointly presenting the most beautiful side of the past era and seeking the spiritual anchor point in the collective memory.

From July 1st to July 21st, 2021, the filming of the film ended. After another 20 days of post-production, the Chinese version of the film was lucky enough to "meet" Pingyao. After that, it was the "Advancing to Cannes" stage, and finally, it came to Tokyo. From the first cooperation to the persistence of the original intention, the film journey has never stopped. "The Whale That Doesn't Swim in the Sea" sets sail and arrives at Tokyo Bay, reaches the audience, and reaches the world. The main creators of the film will continue to set out with the story and let more people see it.

The picture is from TWELVE OAKS Twelve Oaks Art Center

The Vessel’s Isle

海で泳げない鯨

Director/Screenwriter/Editor | Wang Di

Producer/Producer | Xu Ruijing

Co-producer | Han Sanming

Actors | Zhu Congran / Ye Zhaoyue / Han Sanming / Ji Yunxiao / Li Lixian

Director of Photography | Pu Wei

Art Director | Zhang Ziqi / Yang Fan

Gaffer | Lu Yahang

Sound Director | Zhang Yuankang

Colorist | Xie Yingying

Original Music | Li Jiazheng

Documentary Director | Wang Zhaoxin

Responsible for Promotion and Distribution | Xu Ruijing, Jia Jinglun

Special Production | Gao Duoyong, Caiyunli

Genre | Youth / Love / Female

Duration | 180 minutes

Language | Mandarin Chinese

Country of Production | USA

Production Company | TWELVE OAKS FILM ART INC, TRAINMOON FILMS

Company Website | www.12oaks.art