The 10th Pingyao International Film Festival holds events to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Fei Mu’s birth

China News Service, Pingyao, Shanxi, September 26 (Reporter Hu Jian) ​​The 10th Pingyao International Film Festival held a master class event on the 26th called "Spring in a Small Town Is Not Far Away - Fei Mu's 120th Birthday and the Restoration of "Spring in a Small Town"". Fei Mu's son Fei Mingxu, Ding Tian, ​​the granddaughter of Zhang Hongmei, who played Dai Xiu in "Spring in a Small Town", and many directors, film critics, and scholars started the conversation.

Jia Zhangke, founder of the Pingyao International Film Festival, said that the largest indoor screening room of the festival is named after "Spring in a Small Town", and the honorary funds of the "Hidden Dragon" section of the film festival were authorized by Fei Mu's family to be named "Fei Mu Honor" to pay tribute to the Chinese film pioneer known as the "poet director".

The 4K restored version of "Spring in a Small Town" screened this time was completed by the China Film Archive. Li Tao, a restoration expert at the China Film Archive, said that for this restoration, the original nitric acid film bases in the collection were used for digital transformation for the first time, and a complete set of previously unknown soundscapes were discovered. The entire film's soundtrack was completely restored for the first time, and the 5.1-channel sound track was recreated. Artificial intelligence technology was combined with manual refinement to preserve the original appearance of the film to the greatest extent.

"What the audience witnessed today is the world premiere of the complete musical version of "Spring in a Small Town."" Li Zhen, a film history scholar, said that the music of the film was completed in collaboration with musicians Huang Yijun and Fei Mu. It uses a thematic soundtrack. Each character has a corresponding musical theme, and the themes are intertwined and varied when the characters meet. "After watching the musical version, I can re-understand "Spring in a Small Town" and rediscover Fei Mu."

Li Cheuk-tao, a senior Hong Kong film critic, said that the screening of "Spring in a Small Town" in Hong Kong in 1983 "dazzled" the film circles at home and abroad, and this masterpiece that had been dormant for many years was rediscovered. Since then, Fei Mu's works have been screened many times at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Hong Kong film critic Huang Ailing compiled the book "Poet Director Fei Mu" in 1998, which is the authoritative work on Fei Mu.

Chinese director Tian Zhuangzhuang remade "Spring in a Small Town" in 2002. Speaking of Fei Mu, Fei Mingxu's words touched him deeply - "Fei Mu's life was short, but his movies are very long." It is reported that the 4K restored version of "Spring in a Small Town" will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. During this film festival, the documentary "Fei Mu" directed by director Pan Yilin will also meet the audience.