“Fire in the Plain”, the Chinese police melodrama in Ecuador in San Sebastian

San Sebastian (Spain), September 21 (EFE). – So far Chinese director of photography Zhang Ji is making his directorial debut with “Fire on the Plain,” a police melodrama set in northern China in the late 1990s. Shuang Zhuitao’s novel (“Moses on the Plain”).

“I’ve been a cinematographer, but I’ve always wanted to direct, so I decided to adapt this hit novel in China that reminds me of my childhood and my family,” the director said at a remote press conference from his country for the film festival. San Sebastian (Northern Spain).

The police plot revolves around a series of murders that hit the city of Fenton in 1997. The police investigate the case, but the crimes stop mysteriously without the culprit being found, until eight years later a young agent close to one of the victims decides to reopen the investigation.

In parallel, a love story between a young gang member (actor and singer Liu Haoran) and a neighbor who dreams of leaving her city behind and moving south is played by Chu Dongyu, known by titles such as “Better Days” (2019) or “Love Under the Hawthorn” (“Love Under the Hawthorn”). “, 2010).

All this against the backdrop of the 1997 crisis that in that part of China led to factory closures and layoffs of many workers, adding a social aspect to the film.

Zhang Ji emphasized that the greatest difficulty was in choosing the parts of the novel, too comprehensive, to be included in the text, a process that took five years.

He also emphasized that the fact that the event was located in two different periods, 1997 and 2005, allowed him to capture “the period of greatest change in China at the economic and social level”.

Zhang Ji graduated from Xian Academy of Fine Arts, studied photography direction at Bejing Film Academy and developed this work into films such as “Ten Acres of Land” by Chen Baoxun (2001); “The Orchard”, by Hu Zhe (2007) or “Letters from Death Row”, by Ke Feng (2008), which competed as New Director in San Sebastián.

“Fire on the Plains” is one of three major operas that will qualify for the Golden Shell this year, along with Roman “Blue Moon” by Alina Gregor and Danish “As in heaven” by T. Linderberg. EFE

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