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Seventy-Seven Days—— Going Through Changtang
浏览次数:1986次 更新时间:2018-02-08

Seventy-Seven Days—— Going Through Changtang

By Xiangjun


The super wasteland.

Do you know the Changtang no mans zone?A month ago when the breathtaking view of Changtang was unfolded on the big screen, the film worker Xiaodao thought of the light in the director Hantang Zhaos eyes when he asked him the question for the first time. It was like yesterday, but it had been 1825 days since the beginning of the movie Seventy Seven Days in front of him.

Five years ago, Hantang Zhao asked this question among his friends in the film industry, but basically, no one knew where is Changtang.

At that time when people thought of Tibet, they thought of Lhasa, Lake Nam, and other common places. How could they know Changtang? In the autumn of 2010, an online article The Super Wasteland: Going Through Changtang no Mans Zone Alone went viral among the outdoor sports group which was small. It was like a spiritual atomic bomb exploded.

No mans zone, alone, no backup, all by oneself, in seventy-seven days and going through for the first time. All those magic words and the unprecedented adventure attracted more than twenty million readers. Hantang Zhao was astonished by it.

The unusual way.

I am just obsessed with afar.Behind all the astonishment, Hangtang Zhao sympathized with this insignificant line which was said by the writer Liusong Yang.

He acted as similar characters in same ways year after year. He started to lost his passion. Many times when he was facing some boring scripts, he felt that acting which let him be close to his dream had become a routine and a lazy way to earn money. When he stayed on the set for too long, he felt like he was wasting his life. Was he going to live his life this way?

Is this the road I want?He had been the same young man who asked himself this question from time to time after he had faced all the vanity and stiffen life.

In the summer of 2012, he woke up after filming all night in Hengdian. The sunshine after mid-day shone on the new book, Chang Tang, Super Wasteland, beside his pillow. There was an inspiration and thought to change. Hantang Zhao felt like he was supposed to film a movie, and there was no movie truly about outdoor exploration in China yet.

The most important thing was that after he had lived half of his life, he wanted to do one thing that he wanted.

The impossible movie.

Hantang Zhao was ignited, but the reality was harsh. No matter how many time he told people what a beautiful wasteland Changtang is and how exciting the journey would it be, the listeners all loved it, but no one would invest. They even felt it was an impossible movie.

It was one man who went through Changtang, but they needed a group of people to make a movie. There had not been any filming crew entered Changtang which is called the forbidden area of life. There was a group of people filming around Lhasa, but one-third of the crewmembers were forced to quit due to altitude sickness. Could Hantang Zhao who was being a director for the first time accomplish this movie?

Explore the wasteland for the first time.

The wasteland didnt fail his hope. The golden grassland under the sunset, the Milky Way which was so close, the rough ground as same as the alien planet and the light miracle bestowed by nature impressed the cameramen who had been a lot of places.

After thirty-six days of the first round of experiment, Hantang Zhao was convinced that this movie was possible. But new problem aroused. This was going to be very hard, and it could not be done less than a year. In this unsettling age, which actor could be devoted enough?

If one doesnt love this from the bottom of ones heart, one wont enjoy living in the wilderness.He used to enjoy being outdoors. Now after the long road he had been through, he who loved this seemed to the only appropriate actor.

He was no longer the actor who could just leave after his job was done and get paid. He had to think about the fund which was the hardest part, script, route, supply and he even had to choose the pressure cooker which the chef was going to use. He who worried about nothing experienced many firsts on the road from an actor to a director.

But the trailer he brought back from the first contact with the wasteland captained more concrete beauty of Changtang and brought light to his movie dream.

During the 2014 Beijing International Film Festival, Seventy-Seven Days won the Special Award of Venture Capital Investment. His companions cheered, but Hantang Zhao couldnt. His heart was tested after being denied by 99.9% of the investors. He knew that there was still a long way to go.


The filmmaker was in no mans zone.

This trip is not about following the trend or weighing gains and losses according to reality; it is about dream, exploration which I love and trying. In October 2014, the night before he set off in Beijing, Hantang Zhao wrote this to encourage himself while looking at the equipment which was lying on the floor.

At that time, he hadnt acted for two years, and he had no income. He hesitated when he refused the offers. As an actor, he hadnt done his job for too long, but as a new director, he was exploring how to be himself.

This unknown situation attracted an adventurous predecessor, Pinbin Li. He had won seven Golden Horse Awards for the Best Photography. Hantang Zhao did think that Pinbin Li would join him in the first place and he was honest in the beginning. He asked Pinbin Li how should he film because there were no examples to study from. But this moved this heavyweight master to adventure with him.

The real world was harder to go through.

In November 2014, the crew arrived Budongquan. When Hantang Zhao was supposed to pay the staff, the investor called that there was a problem in his finance so that he couldnt give him money anymore.

Director, you see, we have families to support.Department leader talked to him politely and officially. The local drivers were worried too. Hantang Zhao told them that there was no problem, but he hesitated under the viaduct of the Tibet railway at night.

Looking at the trains toward The City of Sunlight in the dark. A slim light of hope passed. He seemed to be back to the teenager who looked at the railway time after time. When would the train which could take the movie to the afar come?

He did not cry, and he still had faith. But he was desperate because faith could not become funds.He stood in the cold darkness for a long time. Hantang Zhao finally dialed the emergency call with his cold fingers. He passed this barrier by using home mortgage and loans to fill the holes.

Destiny

On the way to Lhasa from the wasteland, Hantang Zhao felt weak all of sudden, probably because of he was with a heavy heart or his nerve was on edge for a long time. He used oxygen for the first time. The future was unclear, and with the guidance of God, he met Tian Lan.

The first time he knew about Tian Lan was from the prologue of Changtang, Super Wasteland. When they meet again, the girl who suffered high paraplegia because she was injured at Motuo just learned how to drive, and she was going to drive across the Sichuan-Tibet line by herself.

Everyone disagreed with her, and even Tantang Zhao could not stop talking about the difficulties on Sichuan-Tibet line. Seeing the stubborn look on Tian Lans face which was as same as his when he decided to follow his movie dream without listening to any advice, he suddenly realized that one can accept failure but cannot accept not trying.

He decided that he would not try to talk her out of it. Instead, he decided to follow Tian Lans trip with his filming crew. It was a way of protection. In the cold winter when dripping water freezes, even Hantang Zhao felt too cold to get up and he wondered how Tian Lan put herself in her wheelchair and start another day with a smile. When his teammates had emotions, he comforted them by saying,You should think what you would do if you were Tian Lan...He said that a lot of times and then it suddenly came to him, God had already shown him the main female character.

A favorable turn

If you insist one thing, God will help you.When Hantang Zhao went to find his goddess Yiyan Jiang with all the money he had. He was nervous and wondered what would happen if his money was not enough to pay her.

But he did not anticipate that Yiyan Jiang was willing to be the female leading actress before he came. She said generously that he did not need to pay her first and he could use the money on filming. Looking at the director with sparkles in his eyes and long messy hairs, she felt like there was not many people insist on making movies like him.

 

For one thought

If its not for the dream afar, Hantang Zhao might give up. He found it was hard to believe that he insisted himself. In August 2015, they set off from Beijing for the third time in the third year. Facing the wasteland again, he felt lost as well,when will this end?

But there was a power that supported him. No matter how long it would be, he would fight till the end. Because this was the thing that he wanted to do from the bottom of his heart.

When they were filming a scene that involved in crossing a river, he never thought he could face that kind of danger which was facing a chest-deep and rapid river. The stand-in was scared away by the wasteland last year, and they did not hire any stand-in before they entered the no mans zone for the third time to save some money.

The moment he was in the water, he was carried ten meters away.The ice water that came from Kunlun Mountain was freezing, and there were sharp stones in the water. Hantang Zhao acted himself. He gritted his teeth and carried the bicycle on his shoulder. He was pushed by the rapid stream and stones. The only thing that made him feel safe was the safety rope around his waist.

What else can I do? This is my film, and I have to be an example.Hantang Zhao clenched the blanket and shivered for a long time. He knew from the bottom of his heart that if this were any other films he would not work this hard. He had no time to count what he had lost or gained; he found his original passion for being an actor without noticing.

The passion burned for three years from 4200 meters to 6700 meters above sea level and through countless wind, frost, snow, and rain. They finished filming the no mans zone which no one had done before. When he pushed a cart to the top of a mountain and prepared for filming, he looked at the wasteland that looked like the sea and looked at the dozens of brothers who was getting ready at the foot of the mountain, and he felt moved. An idea that he had had so many people worked together and entered Changtang three times in three years.

The endless wasteland made you feel like you would never reach the end. Now, they made a huge step at the wasteland which had no filming crew entered.

On November 3rd, 2017, Seventy-Seven Days finally released nationally and was his most stressful moment.

At the premiere in Beijing, Hantang Zhao choked with tears before he opened his mouth when he saw his companions who went to the wasteland with him. He did not know how long his painstaking effort would survive in this brutal market with a super low row piece rate on the first day. But at this moment, he finally showed everyone the film which he created with all his effort. This was closure.


Afar is in your heart.

When the light was off, the shadow of a person traveled by himself in the forgotten wasteland showed up. The screen shined the film again.

In the dark, the story shined in the young eyes of those who did not know the future and did not know nature. Many of those who were born around 2000 had not set foot on afar yet.

The story end and the light opened again. The viewers were university freshman and on the stage was the director who had run away from the university for 25 years. Students expressed their desire towards Tibet and their travel plan. But the director said that afar might not at Tibet no mans zone, and it could be in your heart.

He adventured for 1825 days to reach the afar in his heart. He went through the wasteland and life. At the end was Seventy-Seven Days which gathered all the efforts. Walking out of the auditorium from this end, I do not know those young people in the dark will use how many days to arrive their afar.

But please believe that it will be a life adventure which is more amazing than a movie. Just like 25 years ago, Hantang Zhao who was a sports student and stood at the beginning of his life did not know what he would become.

Life has no director, no script and no prototype. No one can foresee what kind of miracle lies in the future. The only thing that can guide you is afar and the person you want to become.



Hantang Zhao

He visited every place in the West by driving himself. He likes outdoor sports such as mountain climbing, sailing, and dive.

In 2017, he released the first adventure movie at the wasteland which is Seventy-Seven Days Days

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