According to " China Daily ", on October 25 this year, the US Mint will issue 
5 cents coin with the avatar of Chinese actress Huang Liushuang (Anna May Wong). Huang Liushuang will become the first Chinese woman to be engraved with American coins.
Huang Liushuang is a legendary Chinese woman who has experienced the golden age of Hollywood movies and is the "most important Chinese-American movie star in the 20th century" in the minds of many people. At the same time, Huang Liushuang is also from Taishan, Guangdong.
In the recently released documentary film "Chasing the Light" , we can learn more about the legendary early-rising Guangdong filmmakers. At the same time, stories about Lu Yan , Cai Chusheng, Bruce Lee , Li Minwei and other Cantonese filmmakers are also told in it. These filmmakers have the same characteristics, that is, they dare to be the first, dare to take risks and fight, and use their pursuit of light to represent the family and country feelings of each era.
Huang Liushuang
Shows the power of early Cantonese female filmmakers
In the flying animation, "Chasing the Light" tells the story of Huang Liushuang: When he was young, Huang Liushuang and his family lived in Chinatown in the United States. At that time, Huang Liushuang, who was very curious about movies, often slipped to the set to watch the movie filming, and was called the set CCC (curious chinese child) - a curious Chinese doll. By the age of 14, she entered the movie world by playing a small supporting role for the first time.
If you count Huang Liushuang's life, the audience will find that the movie "The Death of the Sea" she starred in when she was 17 years old is quite important. In it, she performed a Chinese girl, Lotus. Lotus committed suicide by throwing herself into the water at the end of the movie. Huang Liushuang won great attention with her implicit and delicate performance unique to oriental women in that era.
Another plot that is crucial to Huang Liushuang presents the profile images of her returning to her motherland. That was when she was not selected for the heroine in the movie adapted from the novel " Earth ". Pearl Buck's "Ground" wrote the story of the Chinese, but Huang Liushuang, who had an oriental appearance, ended up losing the role because she was "too oriental". She decided to go back to China to take a look. In Shanghai and Hong Kong at that time, the then actress's queen Hu Die and Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang all warmly received her, and she found a lot of comfort during her trip to China. Later, when Anti-Japanese War broke out, Huang Liushuang sold her jewelry and delivered speeches many times to support the Anti-Japanese War.
Lu Yan
Use her as the link Watch Cantonese filmmakers "Chasing the Light for Thousand Miles"
Huang Liushuang broke through the barriers of race and gender, and gradually became an international star amid the anti-Chinese trend and doubts, and became a brilliant Eastern star on Hollywood's Avenue of Fame. Her tenacity has infected many people, such as Evergreen in the performing arts industry and Lu Yan, who has starred in classic works such as "The Last Emperor" and "HTM1 Mrs. Dong ".
Lu Yan has the same tenacity as Huang Liushuang. She decided to study acting at the age of 30. Her dedication and professionalism made her well-received in the Hollywood film industry where Chinese people were not valued at the time. In the 1960s, she participated in a series of classic movies, such as Tang Shuxuan's "Mrs. Dong", Li Hanxiang's "4 Female Heroes ", " Beautiful Women's ", " Yingtai Crying Blood ".
At the beginning of the documentary film "Chasing the Light" , Lu Yan tells the life of Huang Liushuang in a casual manner. The movie "Chasing the Light" uses actor Lu Yan as a ribbon to connect the dream-chasing story of early Guangdong filmmakers. Behind this seemingly simple connection, it once stumped the film director Zhang Tongdao . Director Zhang Tongdao once said in an interview with a reporter from Nandu that this process was quite brain-burning. "I want to find representative characters in the history of Guangdong films and find out how they made the films to a world-class level. First, the region should include the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Los Angeles; second, the time should start from the second decade of the 20th century of Chinese films, and there will be a long period of time. Third, in terms of character selection, you not only have to choose actors, but also have to have a director."
So in Lu Yan's story, this documentary also led the audience through history and saw the wonderful movie "Lian Minwei, a filmmaker from Jiangmen, Guangdong, founder of Chinese realism film Cai Chusheng, a founder of Chinese realism film from Shantou, and Bruce Lee, a Chinese kung fu star from Foshan .
shooting techniques
exclusive historical materials , unique animation restore the history of film pioneer
director Zhang Tongdao once said in an exclusive interview with Nandu that the difference between "Chasing the Light" is that the movie uses exclusive historical materials to restore the history of early Guangdong filmmakers' film development. "A person who loves movies will be interested in this film, and will even be very interested! Because I can't see it anywhere else, there is a lot of exclusive information in "Chasing the Light" and I guarantee that most people, including those who make movies, have never seen it. ”
In the movie, many precious historical materials are exhibited one by one, such as the precious scans of Huang Liushuang's letters during his lifetime. According to the production team of "Chasing the Light" that Huang Liushuang each letter contains the seal of the Chinese name. At the same time, she is a cat lover, and has a cat named smoky.
In addition to digging out precious historical materials to truly depict the light-chasing path of early Guangdong filmmakers, the creative team of "Chasing the Light" has also visited the hometown of filmmakers on the spot many times, which stems from director Zhang Tongdao's pursuit of the authenticity of documentaries. He believes that the premise of documentary must respect history and facts, so we can see the video The film shows the yard where one of the protagonists Lu Yan was born, the place where the opera was studied, etc.
In such a solemn documentary theme, the creative team also added vivid animation designs. The elderly Lu Yan gradually transformed into adulthood in the animation. She walked along the way and met Huang Liushuang in the Hollywood goddess statue, Li Minwei filmed on the front line of the battlefield, Cai Chusheng, who devoted his efforts to micro-film, and Bruce Lee, who was learning Wing Chun by Ip Man . The five protagonists in the movie finally gathered in the streets with a very Cantonese flavor, leaving behind precious photos in time and space.
written by: Nandu reporter Lin Wenqi
