Breakfast with Pain in Silence

Interview with Yujian Li, director of Pain in Silence

 Firstly, could you tell us about your choice of title?
I have had several titles before, such as Cat, Punishment, He Wei… But Pain in Silence expresses the theme and aesthetics of this film more explicitly.

 Can you tell us about the tone of the film? There are some hints of the horror/mystery genre (shadows, music, silence etc.).
This film is adapted from real characters and incidents. It concentrates on realism, image texture, the relationship between cold and warm light, and acutance, combined with subjective treatment. The film is about the unhealed traumas of a young boy, not to heal but to present them in a calm way. Also, I wanted to show a slightly horrible night scene in order to describe the boy’s inner feeling about his loneliness.

 What are your cinematic influences?
Andrei Tarkovsky, Theodoros Angelopoulos, Abbas Kiarostami, Yasujiro Otsu, Jia Zhangke, the Coen brothers, and Tsai Mingliang. I am fascinated by their films.

 What made you want to explore He Wei’s fate?
We are surrounded by all kinds of media tools, and various sorts of pain are exposed everywhere. Those video clips or news are not trying to heal the wounds, they are ignoring the true feelings of pain. That’s what we are facing every day: people sometimes may discuss your wound and pain without moral consciousness. And Jacques Derrida once argued that there was no true forgiveness toward the Second World War, the pain will remain open in the memory of victims. All we can do is to live alongside the pain. It also happens in our daily lives. Although He Wei is a kid, he has to struggle to survive in the reality around him, and try to grow up without his parents’ protection. Also, speaking of fate, Lacan proposed that fate always asserts itself through such contingent, small encounters, giving rise to the question of who we are…

 Any cinematic coups de cœur in the past year you’d like to tell us about?
Too many… I am now a third year PH.D. candidate of Peking University, School of Arts. I write lots of comments and analysis about film.

 If you’ve already been to Clermont-Ferrand, could you share with us an anecdote or story from the festival? If not, what are your expectations for this year?
No, it is my first time.

 Are any other releases scheduled?
Have no idea about this, maybe I will have a clear idea during the festival period.

Pain in Silence is being shown in International Competition I8.