The 38th Golden Rooster Awards have been announced. As a highly anticipated "expert award," the Golden Rooster Awards' winners each year reflect the evolution of Chinese film production, and this year was no exception.
The low-budget film *Good Things* swept three awards: Best Feature Film, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, reflecting the direction this year's awards encouraged. "In this year's awards, some films with relatively low budgets but excellent storytelling and vivid character portrayals received recognition. *Good Things* is a representative of this type of work," said Yin Hong, Vice Chairman of the China Film Association. "Currently, Chinese cinema needs a transformation from focusing on external technological spectacle to telling good stories and portraying characters effectively."
There are no shortcuts to telling a good story. Immersing oneself in life, connecting with the people, and drawing nourishment from real-life experiences is the most basic and effective method. Creating well-rounded and three-dimensional characters is precisely one of the keys to telling a good story. Only by fully understanding their subjects and clarifying their expressive intentions can actors bring their characters to life.
According to actress Song Jia, Wang Tiemei in *Good Things* is a contemporary woman, and also someone "everyone around us." "She's different from characters whose lives are filled with dramatic ups and downs; her vulnerability, strength, and pain are all expressed with a light touch." This difference is precisely what fascinates Song Jia about Wang Tiemei and is the reason she was inspired to create the film.
Yi Yangqianxi, a post-2000s actor, won the Best Actor award at this year's Golden Rooster Awards for his role as "Liu Chunhe" in *Little Me*. From *Better Days*, *A Little Red Flower*, *The Battle at Lake Changjin*, *Miracle*, *Man Jiang Hong*, to *Little Me*, Yi Yangqianxi has gradually refreshed audiences' perceptions of him, and his acting skills have become increasingly mature. "Breaking stereotypes about cerebral palsy patients and conveying that people with disabilities also deserve respect," Yi Yangqianxi clearly stated his creative goal from the moment he encountered the story. To accurately capture the character's physical and psychological state, he visited hospitals and special education institutions before filming began, closely observing the daily movements, language habits, and emotional expressions of patients with cerebral palsy. He lived with them, personally experiencing their daily routines and social challenges. Through this approach, he understood the character's "loneliness of being misunderstood," which imbued his performance with greater vitality.
Only by immersing oneself in the character and the story, sharing their trials and tribulations, and growing alongside them, can one clearly grasp the character's core spirit and the story's trajectory, thus enabling a better interpretation of the character and the narrative.
Chen Sicheng and Dai Mo won the Best Director award at this year's Golden Rooster Awards for *Detective Chinatown 1900*. *Detective Chinatown 1900* is a unique work within the "Detective Chinatown Universe," a story that opens up a new narrative space within the series. Ah Gui and Qin Fu are distinctly different from the protagonists in previous *Detective Chinatown* films, possessing entirely new character roles. To create compelling characters like Ah Gui and Qin Fu, Chen Sicheng and Dai Mo not only studied extensive historical materials and biographies but also wrote detailed character biographies for the main characters. Where were Ah Gui and Qin Fu born? How did they grow up?… Through meticulous design and tracing of numerous details, the two directors crafted a rich "chronicle" of the protagonists' development. Only with such dedicated effort can characters become three-dimensional and vivid.
Liu Haoran, nominated for Best Actor at this year's Golden Rooster Awards for his role as Rong Jinzhen in *Decipher*, dared to "break down his own image" when facing a role. Rong Jinzhen is a mathematical genius with a fragile mind and body. To embody the character in terms of appearance and mental state, Liu Haoran lost over 20 kilograms in a very short time, suffering from severe insomnia due to his low weight. During his performance, when delivering emotionally charged lines, Liu Haoran involuntarily trembled. Both physically and mentally, he had completely merged with Rong Jinzhen.
In today's fragmented information dissemination and diversified cultural consumption, to bring audiences back to the cinema, they must experience a strong sense of immersion and participation. This requires the character development and story presentation to strongly resonate with contemporary audiences and the times, allowing viewers to gain high emotional value while enjoying an immersive viewing experience.
The film *Chang'an's Lychees*, nominated for six awards at this year's Golden Rooster Awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director, and Best Actor, tells the story of a minor official in the Tang Dynasty. When it was released this summer, it successfully ignited the summer box office. Many viewers said that besides the film's humorous style, they saw themselves and people around them in the character, which was also a major reason why they liked the film.
To bridge the gap between historical films and contemporary audiences, director Da Peng of *The Lychee of Chang'an* designed many scenes with "codenames" corresponding to contemporary society. The protagonist, Li Shande, lives in Chang'an in 755 AD, and Da Peng used a series of cinematic techniques and acting methods to portray him as a Tang Dynasty "migrant worker in the north." In the film, a bridge in Chang'an is crowded with all sorts of people as Li Shande travels through, and he hoped to give the audience the feeling of "rushing onto the subway during rush hour." Li Shande is in extreme distress, and Da Peng, who plays Li Shande, also put himself in a high-intensity, high-pressure work state, getting as close to the character both physically and mentally as possible. Without violating historical accuracy, *The Lychee of Chang'an*, through scene setting, character emotions, and other elements, manages to "film an ancient story as if it were a modern drama," achieving a connection between history and the present, and finding a point of resonance with the audience.
For the film *Breaking Hell*, screenwriters Chen Maoxian and Zheng Weiji won the Best Screenplay Award. Accepting the weighty trophy, Chen Maoxian was deeply moved. He thanked everyone behind the scenes for supporting serious creative work, and thanked the actors for their trust and dedication in spending a year learning how to "break through hell." "This is a story about life and death. I believe that even in the face of AI, our insistence on writing stories about life still has value," said Zheng Weiji.
Faced with new technologies, new media, and new aesthetic demands, 120-year-old Chinese cinema stands at a crucial turning point. Compared to the past, film is no longer merely one of the entertainment options, but a transmission of values regarding emotional resonance, cultural identity, and ultimate experiences. This year's Golden Rooster Awards nominations and winners also show us that audiences are participating in filmmaking with a clearer voice. Telling good stories and portraying characters well remains the only way to create films, and it is also the mission and responsibility entrusted to filmmakers by this era.
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