He came to spend two days at 48e Annecy animated film festival (which runs until June 15) to present his second feature film, The storm, selected in official competition. The trip from China, the jet lag, the lack of sleep and his departure the next day for Shanghai, where another festival awaits him, do not diminish his smile nor that air of kindness which his face graces us with.
Zhigang Yang known as “Busifan”, a great figure in independent animated creation in China, has never before come to France, where his series and short films remain little known. In the same way as his first feature film, Dahufa. The Guardianreleased in 2017, a reference in China in adult animation, and yet never distributed internationally in theaters.
The film, on the other hand, did not pass under the radar of Frédéric Puech, founder of the distribution company Something Big. “I lived in Asia for fifteen years and am always looking for projects. In China, among the many commissioned films, creative voices are emerging, including Busifan. After seeing Dahufa, I followed his work and, when I learned that he was preparing a second feature film, I coached the rights because I wanted to take care of international distribution. I think that The storm is a step for him, the opportunity to show what he does, outside of the platforms. Its presence in Annecy is all the more important. »
Tradition and modernity
Welcomed with much-deserved enthusiasm by the public, The storm, it is true, deviates from the beaten track, both in substance and in form, mixing in both cases tradition and modernity, Chinese mythologies and universal concerns, through the story of a little boy, Bao, and of Grain, his adoptive father, faced with separation. But also a terrible danger: the shadow dragons which infect men and transform them into monsters. An evil, symbol of greed, of the desire to always want to possess more which corrupts human beings, until their loss and the unleashing of the elements. “I wanted to show that nature always takes back its rights”underlines Busifan, whose film ends with a spectacular storm, taken from all angles in frantic movement.
We should see The storm several times to be able to decipher all the legends that run through it, to note all the ideas, the subtleties and the discoveries used by the filmmaker, who, in this journey that is both sensory and epic, mixes with infinite delicacy traditional techniques (hand drawing Indian ink, paint, watercolor) and 3D. When we also know that Busifan is an autodidact in this area, the fascination his film provokes is coupled with real admiration.
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