[Filmmaker in Focus] Director Scud made a splash at the Rotterdam Film Festival by accepting the lead in “Naked Nations – Tribe Hong Kong” and his fans burst out to express their gratitude and the whole audience screamed | 2024 Movies

Written by: Zheng Tianyi

“A young man from the East (my values ​​stopped at 14 years old), who made 10 strange independent films, will be honored by the world’s largest mainstream film festival. I hope this honor will encourage brave artists in every corner of the world.” – — Director Scud

The year before last, director Scud, who was showing signs of waning interest, said goodbye to me. He said that he would retire and leave Hong Kong after filming his tenth film “Naked Nations – Tribe Hong Kong”, completing his 16-year film director career and more than 40 years of living in Hong Kong. I remember that when I interviewed him in the Hong Kong Economic Journal more than ten years ago, I described his career as a director as “it’s more valuable when you leave home”. It seems that fate has destined him to shine on overseas stages.As a result, the 53rd Rotterdam International Film Festival opened on January 25, and the “Focus Filmmaker” this year was the director who loves and hates Hong Kong. Carrying out his bold and unconventional attitude, Scud not only invited 37 actors and actresses who have participated in his films, plus a total of about 50 people behind the scenes at his own expense, and echoed the title of “Naked Nations – Tribe Hong Kong”, he took the lead in stripping off his clothes and exposing his body to a group of macho actors. Muscles, causing an uproar in the audience.

In his 17-year film career, Scud has made a total of 10 movies. For the first time, he invited 37 actors who had appeared in his films together, breaking the film festival record. On the stage, he spoke more emotionally: “It is my greatest joy to be able to bring glory to actors. It would be even better if it can inspire other artists. I would say to everyone: Look at me! Just do it if you think of it, believe in yourself and do it to the end; and then , even if no one is watching, God is watching.”

As the “Focus Filmmaker” of the film festival, the film festival will screen Scud’s “City Without Baseball”, “Permanent Residence”, “Amphetamine”, “Love actually…sucks!”, “Voyage”, “Utopians”, “Adonis, aka Thirty Years of Adonis”, “Plato vs Pasolini”, “Ghosts just want to have fun” and “Naked Nations – Tribe Hong Kong”, a total of 10 movies, 20 screenings, and a special symposium “Talk: SCUD” Scud.

Just before setting off, Scud also made a special emotional speech on social media: “The best thing in life has happened to me. At this moment, I am the luckiest person in the world.

A young man from the East (my values ​​stopped at 14 years old), who made 10 strange independent films, will be honored by the world’s largest mainstream film festival. I hope that this honor will encourage brave artists in every corner of the world.

I will stand on the grand stage of the international film industry with a group of unyielding actors, accept the applause of the audience who love them, and feel the meaning of their efforts. It will be the best time in life. ”

During the epidemic the year before last, Scud and I talked about life and death in his mansion.

He who loves movies suddenly said that he wanted to retire. Every artist will usher in the end of his artistic career. In a sense, this can be regarded as the death of some part of himself. Scud, who is also the focus director of the 33rd Hong Kong Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, announced that after completing his last film “Naked Nations – Tribe Hong Kong”, he will retire and leave Hong Kong, completing his 16-year career as a film director and his 40-year stay in Hong Kong years of life.

Scud bluntly said that before he announced his retirement from making movies, he had not watched movies for five years. The reason was that “movies nowadays are becoming more and more repetitive, and they are not as endless as the movies he watched as a child.” Maybe”, and “After I made a lot of movies, I started to look down on other movies.”

His spiritual nourishment was transferred from movies to books, and he described himself as reading a lot like crazy. Having read more than ten thousand volumes, it was only a matter of time before he started writing. When asked about his future plans, his response was to give up photography and focus on writing, and publish the works he had written in the past. He often writes a diary every day, and laughs that he has no strong points, except for writing, which he can barely call himself comfortable. Regardless of film or literature, many authors pursue profound and far-reaching content, and the length of their works is naturally critical. The novel is longer than the poem. It is said that “the palace of literature is the novel.” Scud agrees and establishes writing novels as his ultimate goal. According to him, his desire to write novels took shape long before he made a movie.