For their films, what women want
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CRI, June 17, 2011
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Hong Kong director Ann Hui attends the forum on "the power of female producer" Wednesday in Shanghai during the ongoing 14th Shanghai International Film Festival.[Photo: Agencies] |
Cheung and her husband, Alex Law, produced and directed the film "Echoes of the Rainbow", which claimed the Crystal Bear for best film at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival. It's a family drama set in 1960s Hong Kong, where Cheung is from. She said her motive for the film is to preserve her childhood memories.
Even "The Soong Sisters", Cheung's 1997 film about the most influential sisters of contemporary China, was affected by her personal experiences.
"The Soong sisters studied abroad when they were young, and when they came back, they felt like strangers in their homeland. I had a similar feeling when I came back from New York." Cheung studied filmmaking at New York University in the 1980s.
"Through telling the story of the Soong sisters, I hoped to have a better understanding of my home country."
But the directors acknowledged that there are aspects in which women are naturally weaker.
"Sometimes I find myself directing a messy scene involving thousands of extras," Cheung laughed, "In this case, I usually leave the situation to a tough assistant director."
Maria Grazia Cucinotta, an Italian actress-turned-producer as well as a mother, said at the forum that having a baby didn't have to mean the end of a career.
While she was expecting her baby, Cucinotta created her own production company. "I found another way to work. It was a new step of my life," she said.
Cucinotta said her daughter, now nine years old, is a nice problem that she loves to have. "Of course my daughter is my priority. But I didn't stop working. I started shooting when she was 3 months old. Now I have my daughter, I'm a much better woman, and understand much better the meaning of being a woman."
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