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妈妈和七天的时间 Mama

Updated: Mar 10


Chinese Title: 妈妈和七天的时间

中文名:妈妈和七天的时间

English Title: Mama 英文名:Mama

Production Company: Langli (Chongqing) Film and Cultural Media Co., Ltd.

出品公司:浪力(重庆)影视文化传媒有限公司

Production Region: Mainland China 制片地区:中国大陆

Filming Location: Wushan, Chongqing 拍摄地点:重庆巫山

Producer: Wang Hongwei

监制:王宏伟

Director: Li Dongmei 导演:李冬梅

Writer: Li Dongmei 编剧:李冬梅

Executive Producer: Li Dongmei 制片人:李冬梅

Starring: Ge Wendan, Cheng Shuqiong 主演:葛文丹、程术琼

Runtime: 134 minutes 片长:134 分钟

Genre: Drama 类型:剧情片 IMDB:tt12768944

媽媽和七天的時間 Mama

故事梗概


《妈妈和七天的时间》讲述了20世纪90年代在中国农村七天发生的故事,记载了小咸,一个十二岁女孩对家庭和村庄的记忆。重庆小山村里,已生了四个女儿的妈妈,因为重男轻女的传统,怀上了第五胎,临盆在即。而十二岁女儿小咸,将在七天之内,经历至亲突然离世,体会人生无常。最后点一盏灯,穿过茂密山林,给先人照亮回家的路。


Synopsis


"MAMA" tells what happens over seven days in a village in rural China during the 1990's. It depicts the memory of 12-year-old girl Xiaoxian about her family and her village. In seven days, she witnesses three deaths and two births, including the death of her own mother who dies giving birth to her fourth sister.


Biography


LI Dongmei was born in a rural village in Chongqing Province, China. She was the first student in her village to enter university where she studied English and American literature. Her family had no TV but her grandfather was good at telling stories that were vivid and alive. Her sisters and her were fascinated by all the characters and images in the stories he told, and it was these stories that motivated her to study literature. She became an English teacher in Futian middle school. One day, she walked into an empty cinema that was showing a film about an Iranian girl’s everyday life. It was a very simply story, but it was reflecting her own life. Indeed, the film was about the father of this Iranian girl who always wanted a son and about how she was always fighting him over this. It had such an impact on her that she decided to study filmmaking. In 2013, at the age of 31, she was accepted into the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne University. She returned to China and, after doing some film jobs for Chinese companies, she started her first feature film.


Filmography:

As Writer/Director and Editor


2012 THE PATH Short Film, 1 minute THREE DOLLARS Short Film, 2 minutes

SO AM I Short Film, 7 minutes

2013 THE BATHROOM Short Film, 1 minute

LIFE IS WONDERFUL Short Film, 2 minutes

PAPER FISH Short Film, 5 minutes

2014 THAT SUMMER Short Film, 3 minutes BUS STOP 29, ROUTE TO MONT VERNON Short Film, 5 minutes

2015 THE CORN IS FLOWERING Short Film, 13 minutes

WHEN THE TIME STOPS Documentary, 23 minutes


2020 MAMA First Feature, 134 minutes


获奖:


入围第77届威尼斯国际电影节,并提名欧洲电影联盟奖-威尼斯日最佳影片; 入围第25届釜山国际电影节“亚洲电影之窗”单元; 第四十四届哥德堡国际电影节“英格玛·伯格曼”竞赛单元,成为唯一入围本届电影节的中国影片,并获得英格玛·伯格曼最佳国际影片处女作奖。 入围第45届香港国际电影节新秀电影竞赛-火鸟电影大奖; 获得第12届青年电影手册年度盛典2021年度最令人期待电影。


Director's statement:

My mother died on August 29th, 1992, by the lunar calendar, when I was 12 years old. 27 years after, my memory returned to the moments related to my mother's death and the daily routine in the village and it occurred to me to write a series of events spanning a 7-day period around my mother's death. My third sister and I had just returned from school when we saw our mother’s body lying on a mat in the corner of the main room, we knelt in front of her and cried. There were tears in the corners of her eyes, even though the hospital had declared her dead for hours. However, I didn't want to believe that the mother I saw 5 days ago was now dead. Even after all these years, it still feels unreal. In a short period of time, my neighbor's aunt died of lung cancer, another family's son died of oxygen deprivation at birth and my mother died giving birth to her fifth daughter. My father came home from faraway and the newborn sister was sent to the couple who had lost their son. I used the film to reconcile myself with my 12-year-old self and with my mother to whom I didn't say goodbye. I saw myself terrified and helpless while facing my mother's death. I saw my grandmother having to face the pain of losing her daughter. I saw my father full of guilt, kneeling in front of the grave crying, but still lamenting the injustice that fate had not given him a son. The film bears the memory of that summer. I tried to present those memories in the most simple and concise way. Emotions and feelings are restrained just like a painting without any modification or rendering. Like the people I have known, the characters of my film eat, walk and sleep every day and then suddenly face the fine line between birth and death.


Paris-based sales agent Yilisoo Films has acquired female director LI Dongmei’s debut feature, MAMA, which has been selected for Giornate degli Autori at Venice International Film Festival.


Produced by WANG Hongwei who has had roles in nearly all of JIA Zhangke's films, the film tells what happens over seven days in a village in rural China during the 1990's. It depicts the memory of 12-year- old girl Xiaoxian about her family and her village. In seven days, she witnesses three deaths and two births, including the death of her own mother who dies giving birth to her fourth sister.


27 years after her own mother died, director LI Dongmei’s memory returned to the moments related to her mother's death. Her third sister and her had just returned from school when they saw their mother’s body lying on a mat in the corner of the main room. She uses the film to reconcile herself with her 12-year-old self and with her mother to whom she didn't say goodbye. She saw herself terrified and helpless while facing my mother's death. She saw her grandmother having to face the pain of losing her daughter. She saw her father full of guilt, kneeling in front of the grave crying, but still lamenting the injustice that fate had not given him a son, but four daughters. The film bears the memory of that summer.

LI Dongmei was born in a rural village in Chongqing Province, China. She was the first student in her village to enter university where she studied English and American literature. Her family had no TV but her grandfather was good at telling stories that were vivid and alive. Her sisters and her were fascinated by all the characters and images in the stories he told, and it was these stories that motivated her to study literature. She became an English teacher in Futian middle school. One day, she walked into an empty cinema that was showing a film about an Iranian girl’s everyday life. It was a very simply story, but it touched her deeply and had such an impact on her that she decided to study filmmaking. In 2013, at the age of 31, she was accepted into the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne University. She returned to China and, after doing some film jobs for Chinese companies, she started her first feature film.


The film was co-produced by Langli (Chongqing) Film&Media Ltd., Gago Cultural Communications Ltd., M’ESPACE Movie Studio, as well as the production arm of Yilisoo Films. Crew on the film includes famous sound designer LI Danfeng.


Launched in 2018 and based in Paris, Yilisoo Films owns a production branch whose core business is to develop projects with strong co-production potential between Asia and Europe and an international sales branch that represents producers and directors offering an original and sensitive vision of the world, either emerging or confirmed. WANG Hongwei, with his company Gago Cultural Communications Ltd., and Yilisoo Films already worked together while joining French producer Sophie Dulac Productions for the production of Claire Simon’s film Premières Solitudes. Among other titles, Yilisoo Films counts in its line up Crossing The Border-Zhaoguan by HUO Meng that has been premiered at Pingyao International Film Festival and classic movies by XIE Fei, who is one of the most important and awarded Chinese director from the 4th generation and had among his students CHEN Kaige, TIAN Zhuangzhuang, ZHANG Yimou and JIA Zhangke.


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