Introduction
Yu Guangyi,Zhao Chuan
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"Never Mind" Independent Film Screening VOL.9: Xiao Lizi
Curated by Zhao Chuan / Gao Zipeng
Release date: 2008
Running time: 94 minutes
Camera equipment: Sony PD190
Director: Yu Guangyi
Cinematographer: Yu Guangyi
Producer: Li Rongbin
Editors: Yu Guangyi and Wang Guosheng
English subtitles: Cindy Carter
Subtitle editor: Bao Wei
Film Synopsis
In the snowbound wilderness of the Changbai mountain range, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang Province, we find an unusual family: a hunter, his wife, a vagrant named Xiao Li, two dogs and one cat. They live together in a decrepit house in an abandoned logging camp, miles from the nearest village. During the winter, they feed themselves by hunting and trapping; in the summer, they raise and sell some of their small herd of goats.
A century of intensive logging has deforested the Changbai mountain range and left its inhabitants, who relied on the timber industry for their livelihood, unemployed and destitute. The hunter himself was once employed by the Bureau of Forestry; after he was laid off, he turned to herding and hunting to survive. Xiao Li, reduced to vagrancy after he was laid off from his job, sought refuge with the hunter, who offered him room and board in exchange for tending the goats and doing some odd jobs around the house. So it is that this tranquil valley shows signs of human habitation: the smell of cooking, smoke drifting from a chimney and the mournful echo of Xiao Li's singing.
When the government begins clearing away houses to build a reservoir that will supply drinking water to Harbin, a city of over nine million people, the hunter and his household are asked to move. By wintertime, the house has been half-demolished but the family remains: they brave the heavy snowstorms and await the arrival of spring. Just before Chinese New Year, government inspectors investigating reports of illegal poaching find and confiscate the stores of meat that the family has set aside to last them through the long winter. The hunter flees to avoid capture, his wife returns to her parents' home and Xiao Li is arrested, but manages to escape. When he returns to the mountain, frostbitten and exhausted, he finds himself alone once again, with only his pets and songs to keep him company...
Director’s Words
Survival Songwas filmed in the Changbai mountains of northeastern China, the area where I was born and raised. In fact, many of the people who appear in this documentary are my childhood friends and neighbors. I left my hometown over two decades ago and now live 400 kilometers away in Daqing, a city famed for its productive oil fields. Since I began making independent films in 2004, my main focus has been documenting the lives of the people who live in the Changbai mountains. Having been raised there, I know something of the history and culture, and am very conscious of the changes that rapid economic development has wrought. The old ways of life are disappearing quickly, and I feel a sense of urgency - a combination of personal nostalgia and a larger sense of social responsibility - to document them before they vanish completely.
A century of felling trees has deforested the Changbai national forest and left many local residents unemployed and destitute. For those whose families have inhabited these remote mountains for generations, adjusting to life in the outside world - that is, relocating to cities in which they possess no land, jobs or connections - can be difficult. While Chinese cities have prospered in recent years, inland and mountainous regions tend to remain poor and overlooked. Government officials view the mountains in terms of resource extraction, as a valuable source of water for China's growing cities, but pay scant attention to the welfare of rural residents, many of whom cannot afford to feed themselves or their families.
Poverty has exposed some of the ugliest aspects of human nature. In certain areas, environmental degradation and resource competition have reduced human society to a pecking order in which each person must struggle to maintain his or her place in the food chain. No longer is there any respect for the age-old "code of the mountains" in which hunters and trappers steered clear of traps set by others. These days, the poachers poach from one another, and anyone who comes across trapped prey is likely to steal it for themselves. After a long winter spent setting and checking his traps, the hunter has very little to show for his efforts. Meanwhile, the hunter has become the hunted: even more powerful human predators have set in motion a plan that will deprive him of his land, his home and his livelihood.
Beginning in October of 2006, I lived with the hunter and his family for one year. Each day, I accompanied him up the mountain to set traps and gather firewood. By night, I slept on a traditional kang: a raised earthern platform, heated from below, that serves as both bed and sitting area. After a demolition crew arrived to dismantle the house, melted snow began to leak through the cracks in the roof. One morning, I woke to find my clothes and bedding soaked; I wrung out my clothes as best I could, put them on again and set out for a long day's work.
Early in 2007, the hunter took me to a village down the mountain to recharge the batteries in my camera and buy some provisions for the Chinese New Year. After so long in the wilderness, even that village of a few dozen households seemed bustling: the 40-watt bulb in the tiny village shop was dazzling; the shelves brimming with expired foodstuffs were enticing; even the plump, sunburned farmer's wife behind the counter seemed fashionable and alluring. It was only then that I realized how a long period of loneliness and isolation can change a person. I had been on the mountain for less than a year, but the hunter and his family had been living there for over four years, without electricity, indoor plumbing or a telephone.
In the course of making this documentary, I recorded and experienced many unforgettable incidents. Even now, I sometimes imagine that I can hear the sound of Xiao Lizi singing right nearby. I dedicate this film to him and the other mountain dwellers who were kind enough to allow me into their lives, and to kind and decent people everywhere.
About the Director
Yu Guangyi was born in 1961 in China's northeastern Heilongjiang Province. After graduating from the Chinese Academy of Art in Hangzhou, he worked for many years as a woodblock print artist. He began making independent documentary films in 2004. His first film was Mu Bang (English titles: Timber Gang, The Last Lumberjack). Little Li is his second film.
影片介绍
《小李子》 于广义、赵川
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策划: 赵川、高子鹏
片长: 94分钟
设备: SONY PD190
创作年份: 2008年
导演慑影: 于广义
策划: 沈少民 于广义 于秋石
制片人: 李荣滨
英文翻译: 辛迪
剪辑: 于广义 王国生
字幕校对: 包巍
影片梗概
在中国长白山深处，猎人女人流浪汉两条狗还有一只猫，组成了一个家庭。他们住在一个废弃林场的破房子中，周围几十里内只有这一户人家，他们靠冬天狩猎夏天放羊为生。
中国长白山林区历经百年砍伐，现在已无树可采，以此为生的人们大多数下岗失业。猎人原来是林业局职工，下岗后过起了现在的生活，流浪汉下岗后投奔猎人有了一个吃饭的地方。从此在这寂静的山谷中，有了人间的烟火和流浪汉苍凉的歌声。
国家在他们住的山下修建了一个水库供哈尔滨饮用水，要求他们搬迁。冬天里他们住的破房子被扒掉了一半，一家人在风雪中等待着春天的到来。快过年了因偷猎被官方追查，来人搜走他们这个冬天捕获的所有猎物。猎人逃走了去了一个谁也不知道的地方，女人回了娘家。山里的雪越下越大流浪汉好听的歌声再一次在山谷中响起。
导演阐述
《小李子》拍摄于中国长白山林区。那里是我的家乡，影片中的人物大多是我童年的伙伴和朋友。离开家乡二十多年了，我现生活在石油城市大庆，距长白山林区有四百多公里。2004年开始独立电影制作，长期拍摄记录山里人的生活，是我这些年的重要工作内容。我在山里长大，了解那里的历史和文化，我们正经历着快速发展的时代，旧有的生产与生活方式每天都在消逝，抢救性的纪录寄托着我对大山的眷恋，也是一种社会责任。
历经百年砍伐现在山上已无树可采。以此为生的人们全部下岗失业，他们世代居住深山难以适应外面的生活，没有土地没有工作什么都没有。中国城市每年都在发展与变化，而贫困山区已被人遗忘，政府所看到的只是山里清澈的水源，而山里人的吃饭问题却没有人关注。贫穷使人性中所有丑恶的一面都展现了出来，自然环境的改变促成了人类社会“食物链”的形成.古老的狩猎到他这一代已变成了偷猎，有限的资源已成为人们生存的共同依赖，没人再遵守“山理山规”套住的猎物谁碰上谁就偷回家中.猎人每天忙着布套子设陷阱的时候，自己却已成为别人的猎物，当忙碌一个冬天终有一点收获的时候，背后那个真正的“猎人”开始出手了，最后弄的他无家可归。
拍摄中我每天和他们生活在一起，白天一同上山狩猎打柴，晚上睡在一个土炕上。房盖被扒后天上下雪屋里下雨，有一天早晨起床一摸棉裤全湿透了，原来棚上融化的雪水在上面滴了一夜，拧出水后又套在身上。2007年元旦猎人带我下山给机器充电，当我走进一个只有几十户人家的小山村的时候，觉得这里太繁华了，农家小卖店货架上一堆过期的食品对我充满着无限的诱惑。40瓦的电灯那样明亮，灯光下黑胖的农妇也变的性感时尚，我真实的体会到在极度孤独的环境里，人会有怎样的一种改变。(猎人一家在这里已经生活四年多了…)
影片2006年10月开机，拍摄了近一年的时间，经历了许多难忘的事情，如今小李子的歌声仍时常在我耳边响起……
谨以此片献给所有善良的人们。
导演简历
1961年生于中国黑龙江省，现生活于大庆市。1991年毕业于中国美术学院，进行多年版画创作。2004年开始独立电影制作,《小李子》是完成的第二部作品。
《小李子》所获奖项:
2008年第5届中国纪录片交流周“独立精神奖”
2008年第2届首尔国际电影节“最佳导演奖”
2008年第8届东京银座电影节“评审团大奖”
2008年第5届迪拜国际电影节“评委会奖”
2009年第33届香港国际电影节最佳纪录片人道奖
2009年第9届俄罗斯彼尔姆国际电影节“佛兰哈迪大奖”“费比西国际影评人奖”（同时获得两个奖项）
2009年第47届维也纳国际电影节“费比西国际影评人奖”