by Grandesso Federico
CANNES, France, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese movie director Li Ruijun, currently at the 70th Cannes Film Festival, said not enough movies are being made about "normal people".
Presenting his movie "Walking Past the Future", Li told Xinhua in an exclusive interview in Cannes: "It is important to tell stories of characters very close to us."
His movie is about people who left the village to work in the city, called villager workers. "They were farmers before who are in the city as labor workers mainly. I wanted to focus on this group of people because it is very large, around 213 million individuals," Li said.
He said most of movies in the Chinese market have almost no connection with the life of normal people.
Li said he found inspiration for the movie from previous films he made centered on children and old people who are left in villages in Gansu province, where the director is from.
Asked how Chinese youth can chase the "Chinese dream", the director stressed: "I want them to think bigger and have a bigger vision towards the future and not only to focus what they can earn in the present. Opportunities always exist but the crucial thing is to think about what you really want. Then chase your dreams."
The most important element for Li in movies is the story. "It has to be current and touch hearts. After that, I'm following my script and help the actors to understand the story," he said.
For Chinese cinema to enter more European and U.S. markets, Li said the key is to make real Chinese movies. "We don't have to copy Hollywood style, but we have to tell Chinese stories using our own way to express them."
Li presented "Fly with the Crane" in 2012 at the Venice Film Festival and "River Road" in 2015 at the Berlin Film Festival.
