The Returning Island
Directed by Zhuang Canjie
Location: Shantou, Guangdong
Director's Notes:

"The Returning Island" is a story about the ties of kinship across the Taiwan Strait. We chose Mazu as the cultural icon and the carrier of nostalgic feelings. While hunting for relevant materials, we found that people in the past would take a son statue at the feet of the Mazu statue and go to sea with it, hoping that it would bless their peace. For certain, every time the fisherfolks returned, the son statues would be brought back to their "home" to spend a night with the mother statue, so that their blessing power could be maintained. We felt that the story of the son statues and the Mazu statue corresponds with the relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and that's when our story began to take shape in our heads.

In search of suitable filming spots, we visited dozens of Tianhou Temples of all sizes in the Chaoshan area, and finally selected the one in the Chaoyang District, Shantou, as the spot for the main scene. Built in the Song Dynasty, this Tianhou Temple boasts a profound historical background.

There is a scene of the Chaozhou opera performance "Silang Visits His Mother" filmed at the Tianhou Temple. To finish that scene, we also required a scene of a bunch of audience watching the opera together. Such news has motivated all the villagers to assist us. Despite sitting under the scorching sun for nearly two hours, all of them appeared to be energetic and passionate in front of the cameras, which moved me a lot.

During the process of filming, we have also been through various difficulties that young creators will encounter. We hit a bottleneck at the stage of script writing. At that time, I always shut myself in a room with the scriptwriter for a whole day but just ended up with nothing. Nevertheless, all our pains and struggles seemed to be worth it when we finished filming the last scene. All that we have been through has turned into precious experiences, and that is what I learned from the "Maritime Guangdong Program".

Coincidentally, we started to film "The Returning Island" on the very day that my previous work "Overseas Chinese" began to be filmed five years ago. Therefore, I invited the two leading actors of "Overseas Chinese" - Cai Shanzhang, the famous actor in the Chaoshan area, and Wu Hongbo, a young actor - to make their special appearance. In addition, a large proportion of the production crew were from the original team of "Outlander". Now that five years have passed, I turned my camera to my hometown and the folk culture of the Chaoshan area again, hoping that "The Returning Island" would be the record of our growth in the past five years, and also a new gift to the audience.

《珊瑚她在等》The Returning Island
庄灿杰 导演作品
【拍摄地】广东汕头

【导演手记】

《珊瑚她在等》是一个讲述海峡两岸血脉乡情的故事，我们选择用妈祖作为片中的文化符号和承载思念的载体。在查找资料的过程中，我们发现过去人们出海时会从妈祖母像下分灵一尊子像带走，以祈求平安。当然，这尊子像会在每次返航时被带回“娘家”——与母像待上一晚，子像才能继续保佑出海人。我们觉得“子母妈祖像”的设定非常契合海峡两岸的关系，遂在脑海中有了故事的雏形。

在勘景的那四天，我们几乎跑遍了潮汕地区大大小小几十座天后宫，最终把主场景选在汕头市潮阳区的和平下宫天后古庙。这座天后宫始建于宋朝，有着非常深厚的历史底蕴。

天后宫里，有一场戏是潮剧《四郎探母》的演出，我们需要拍一个很多人在一起看戏的场景。消息一出，全村出动。村民们在大热天坐了近两个小时来配合我们拍摄，每个人在镜头里都展现出了非常热情饱满的状态，这让我十分感动。

在这次拍摄过程中，我们也经历了青年创作者会碰到的各种问题。尤其在剧本创作阶段遇到瓶颈，我和编剧两人终日关在房间里大眼瞪小眼，就是脑袋空空。但那些痛苦和挣扎，在整个片子杀青的那一刻都变得不重要了。我们经历的一切都成为了宝贵的创作经验，这也是这次“山海计划”让我学到的。

巧合的是，《珊瑚她在等》开机的日子跟五年前我的旧作《番客》开机在同一天。这次我邀请了当初《番客》的两位主演——潮汕知名演员蔡汕长、青年演员吴鸿博友情出演。此外，剧组有大半工作人员都是当年拍摄《番客》的原班人马。这也是时隔五年我再次将镜头对准家乡，对准潮汕的民俗文化。希望《珊瑚她在等》可以成为这五年来我们成长的见证，也成为我们交给观众的一份新答卷。