P.E.I.-based screenwriter directs first feature film — in China

Guests at the Charlottetown Hotel, where Bo Ding works as a part-time housekeeper, may be interested to know that he recently directed his first feature film, dream pawnshopin the largest film market in the world – China.

Before immigrating to Canada from China, Ding wrote the screenplay for a biopic about a famous Chinese geologist and several TV episodes for a family drama that aired on a Hainan station. He also wrote a travel diary about the time he rode a bicycle from Sichuan to Tibet.

But after arriving in Canada three years ago, he found it difficult to find a job that had anything to do with what he loved: writing.

“I didn’t know how to make a movie in Canada,” he said. “Because of the language, because I don’t know how people work here. And you know, PEI is a small town.”

While unemployed here, he began working on his most ambitious project yet – drafting a screenplay that would eventually become his full-length directorial debut.

But first he had to go back to China. He said he knew he could do a film there if he picked a location and had enough money to hire the right people. He chose the southwestern city of Dali in the Chinese province of Yunnan as the location for the film.

It’s a very important thing in my life because I’ve done it and finished a whole movie and I can do better next time.– Body

“Here [on P.E.I.], I don’t know how to make a film out of my story. It’s tough.”

But no matter where you are, filmmaking is a difficult process. And to do one in China, you also have to learn to navigate a state-controlled media apparatus.

“If you want to make a film, you have to have permission from the government [it],” he said.

“It’s very difficult and uncomfortable, and the way you end it, you have to get your film to them… So the film isn’t [only telling] a good story. It is not so easy. You have to do the film and think more about whether the government will allow you to do this film.”

“Everyone Has Dreams”

Ding said he’s not interested in using his art to talk about politics or history – he wants to tell stories about ordinary people and their lives.

dream pawnshop is a comedy about a man who every 12 years “pawns” his dreams in a shop for things that will benefit him tangibly.

The premise is straight out of a fairy tale, and Ding said it was on purpose. He wanted the story to reflect themes as universal as a Grimm fairy tale.

“When [we’re] 16, everyone has a dream, a different dream, and then we change it, we forget the dream,” Ding said. “We grow up, everything changes, it changes and it changes. That’s what my film is about.”

Learning to direct – “it’s assignment work”

While the camera was rolling, he also learned how to direct a film for the first time.

“I have to learn how to do it and I have to think about how to do it better,” he said. “Every day you have to [make] one choice, many choices. Do we finish it, do we do it later? … It’s not art work, it’s assignment work.”

He said much of his time was spent managing schedules and finding creative ways to get the elements he wanted for the film — like special effects — on a very tight budget.

“We worked about 18 hours every day,” he said. “Sometimes you think you want to show the picture to everyone in a different way, but you can’t because we didn’t have enough money, didn’t have the time, that [technology]enough men work for you.”

dream pawnshop was completed in two years and cost about $200,000. Ding said he got most of the money from friends or invested it himself.

His film was approved by Chinese authorities, but they asked for an amendment: a scene in which a police officer tells a joke had to be cut, Ding said, because Chinese police officers don’t joke.

First public screening

dream pawnshop has never had a screening in a Chinese cinema, and Ding is awaiting approval from authorities to distribute it online.

However, they gave him the green light to show it to others, so in June he held a screening at the City Cinema in Charlottetown – for the first and only time dream pawnshop was ever shown publicly.

More than a dozen people came, most of them Chinese newcomers.

After the screening, Ding said he felt the film wasn’t perfect and that he could have done better with more time and money. But he was glad to see that most people seemed to have enjoyed it. He even noticed a viewer burst into tears.

“It’s a very important thing in my life,” he said. “Because I did it and I finished a whole movie and I can do better next time.”

During his free time from the hotel where he works, Ding is finishing a documentary about the experiences of six Chinese women working and studying on the island. He also translates another screenplay he wrote into English.

“I follow the new dream”

Ding said the reason he would like to continue working in Canada is so he can create what he wants.

“Every screenwriter’s story is mostly about himself, from his life,” he said.

“I come to Canada, I make films, I do everything. I think that’s it [like] this movie. It means I give up something I wanted before and make a new dream and follow the new dream. So today I come to PEI”