When the Nepalese Hen meets the Gansu Camel
Date: 17 June 2023 (Sat)
Venue: Broadway Cinematheque
@Eye Catcher Global 2023
Post-Screening Talk Guests: Min Bahadur BHAM, WONG Ka-ki
Coming up to our 3rd Showcase, the Nepalese director Min Bahadur BHAM brought his first feature film The Black Hen (Kalo Pothi), together with our promising young filmmaker Ka-ki with her Wild Child, joined us with the post-screening talk, in juxtaposing their adventure and challenges during production.
“People always say you never work with children or animals.” It seemed to become a widely recognised statement when shooting. Min mentioned that being his debut feature film, both children in The Black Hen were from the village he lives and for sure they were non-actors. During the long casting process, they gathered more than 500 children from different schools around the region. It was not easy to find a child who also matched the vibe and personality of the character. Not until he asked one of the children if he knew how to ride a horse, he found out the child was frightened when he really brought the horse. Although the child lied because he wanted to do the role, Min found that he was the kid he wanted to have, who was full of confidence.
Comparatively, in Ka-ki’s Wild Child, the child is actually an actor who worked on film sets before. It felt like the casting process was basically 90% of the direction already. In such a harsh environment with cold weather in Gansu, China, 5 crew members of the production team could only try their best to work out as scheduled, while it’s lucky that the kid actor was really cooperative.
“What was the deep-down force inside that made you want to make this film, what’s your message and motivation?” In the Q&A session, Min shared about his dream of making films since he was 6 or 7 years old, even before knowing about the concept of the role of a director. While stories always come from real life, observing the differences in social status and grown-up background through a shy kid’s eyes was the start, and it took a long time to come up with a script.
當尼泊爾母雞遇上甘肅駱駝
日期：2023年6月17日
地點：百老匯電影中心
@Eye Catcher Global 2023
映後談嘉賓：敏巴哈杜爾巴姆、黃嘉祺
奪目展映來到第三場， 當尼泊爾導演Min帶著他曾入圍2016年奧斯卡最佳外語片的首部長片《小兄弟尋雞記》，對談第14屆鮮浪潮大獎得主《野小子》的年青導演黃嘉褀各自在製作及拍攝時的經歷及挑戰時，會產生怎樣的火花？
「大家總是說最難拍攝的對象，就是小孩或動物。」這句敘述好像已經變成了某種默認。《小兄弟尋雞記》作為導演的首部長片，Min談及兩位小主角本來就是和自己居住在同一個村落的人，想當然爾也非演員。當初試鏡的確花了很長的時間，甚至曾經從周邊鄰近地區的學校中招募過超過500名小孩，可見要找到與劇本主角氣場及性格契合的小演員一點也不容易。直到Min發現，在他問了其中一名試鏡的小孩「你懂得騎馬嗎？」而獲得肯定的回答後，那名小孩看到導演真的把馬牽出來時慌張的神色。雖然試鏡時他的回答是個謊言，從他以自信的態度和對於角色的渴望看來，Min卻因此肯定他就是自己想要找的小演員。
另一邊廂，嘉祺則分享自己在籌備及拍攝《野小子》時，飾演野小子的小演員其實本來也有過演出的經驗，整個試鏡的過程感覺宛如已經摸索了90%的方向。當時中國甘肅處於嚴寒的狀態，拍攝環境可謂頗為惡劣，只有5人的製作團隊唯有盡力進行已經計劃好的拍攝行程，幸好小演員有足夠的經驗，也十分合作。
「是怎樣的力量驅使你去創作、製作《小兄弟尋雞記》，當中想要傳達的訊息和創作的動力又是怎樣的呢？」面對觀眾的提問，Min坦言他初次萌生拍電影的夢，是早在自己6、7歲的孩提時代，甚至對於「導演」這個崗位一竅不通的時期。故事總是源自於生活，當時比較害羞的他，以一雙孩子的眼睛，觀察著身邊朋友在成長背景和社會階級的差異，經過漫長的歲月，才終於長成現在這個故事。