Chinese filmmaker Guan Hu has revealed he is currently developing an adaptation of “The Three-Body Problem” author Liu Cixin’s science fiction work “Full-Spectrum Barrage Jamming” and Liu Zhenyun’s acclaimed novel “One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences.”
Liu Cixin’s “Full-Spectrum Barrage Jamming,” featured in the collection “To Hold Up the Sky,” dives into electronic warfare during a conflict between a resurgent Communist Russia and NATO forces. The military sci-fi story explores the technological arms race as Russia deploys desperate measures to counter NATO’s advanced electronic capabilities.
Meanwhile, Liu Zhenyun’s “One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences,” winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2011, is a sweeping meditation on loneliness spanning generations in rural China. The novel follows two intertwined narratives: Wu Moxi, a solitary man from early 20th century Yanjin County who embarks on a journey through Shanxi, Shandong, and Hebei after losing his only true connection, and a century later, his grandson Niu Aiguo, who retraces those steps seeking the same elusive human connection.
Guan’s Cannes Un Certain Regard-winning film “Black Dog” is nominated for five Asian Film Awards including best film and director. The director, is also known internationally for his 2020 war epic “The Eight Hundred.” “Black Dog” represents a significant departure from Guan’s large-scale productions. Starring superstar Eddie Peng in a largely wordless performance, the film explores themes of isolation, resilience, and the bond between humans and animals.
“Making a large scale epic like ‘The Eight Hundred,’ the whole process was very tiring, exhausting,” Guan tells EbMaster. “When I was creating ‘Black Dog,’ it was during the pandemic. There was a chance for me to calm down a little bit, to return to what I’m feeling, to return to my heart. For me, it’s like a recharging process.”
The director reveals personal connections to the film’s themes: “When I was young, when I was small, I already felt like I didn’t belong to the community. I felt like I was isolated and starting to be marginalized.” This sense of alienation helped shape the character played by Peng, who Guan describes as “not accepted by society, especially when the town is developing.”
Peng plays Lang, who is released from jail and returns to his hometown in Northwest China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with clearing stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray. The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together.
In casting popular star Peng for the introspective, nearly silent role in “Black Dog,” Guan sought to reveal unseen dimensions of the actor’s capabilities. “What interests me is to take out the less alone side or less alone dimensions of the actors,” Guan explains. “Always people think that [Peng is] a handsome guy, but inside Eddie Pang, I realized that he has a certain kind of innocence, and he is quite quiet in reality.” This quality, Guan noted, hadn’t been expressed in Peng’s previous films. The director made a point to befriend Peng before production began, saying, “I wanted to know who exactly Eddie Peng is, and then that way I can get to know more about his characteristic personality and the weaknesses.” The approach paid off, with Peng now nominated for best actor at the Asian Film Awards for his internalized performance.
Guan’s pandemic experience with his five dogs also influenced the film. “During the pandemic, I spent more time with my dogs. Whenever I looked at my dogs, I felt like they looked at me as if I was their lover. There must be some sophisticated or inexplicable connections between human beings and dogs.”
The filmmaker has also recently completed another large-scale production, “Dong Ji Dao,” a dramatization of the WWII incident in 1942, when Japanese ship “Lisbon Maru” carrying British POWs was torpedoed. Fang Li’s documentary “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru” was China’s entry to the Oscars’ international category this year.
“I saw the documentary, because, actually, the director of the documentary is a good friend of mine, and so at that time, even when he hadn’t finished the documentary, I already saw part of that,” Guan says. “But I would say that my project has nothing to do with this documentary, because I already started developing this idea back in 2014.”
Despite streaming platforms changing audience habits, Guan remains optimistic about cinema’s future. “Everyone seems pessimistic, but for me, I’m quite optimistic. In terms of the number of productions or audience, it may decrease, but I don’t think film itself will die or vanish. Going to cinema, watching a film, is a basic component of social life.”
The filmmaker stresses that his creative process isn’t driven by expectations of awards or international recognition. “Whenever I make a film, I never set a goal. I never say, ‘I want to achieve this or achieve that.’ The reason why I made ‘Black Dog’ is purely to reflect what is inside my heart, to express what I want to deliver. For the rest, I would just put it to destiny.”
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2025-03-16 12:19