![]() ![]() ![]() The film won awards at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival in 1958. It opened a new chapter for China’s cooperation and exchanges with foreign countries in film making. It was also the first co-production with foreign directors and actors after the PRC founding. The Magic of the Kite was new China’s first color children’s feature film. Sylviane Rozenberg, the actress who plays Nicole in The Magic of the Kite.Ī Simple and Successful Model of Cultural Communication In the end, the Monkey King became an important role in The Magic of the Kite and presented a refreshing view of China to the Western audience. It is said that once he took back a kite with the image of the Monkey King, which inspired Roger Piguat once again. Ivens visited China many times between 19. Roger Piguat had a friend who was a famous documentary director - Joris Ivens. Roger Pigaut happened to be one of his audiences and was amazed by the power of the Monkey King. During the 1950s, Zhang Chunhua, a famous Peking Opera artist, performed in Europe twice, becoming very popular among French people. By using the image of the kite, Roger Pigaut also found a bridge to connect Chinese and French film creators.ĭuring the Cold War, art performances often played an important role in people-to-people exchanges. In Chinese culture, kites are not only used as a toy for leisure enjoyment, but also represent a cultural aspiration of exploring loftiness and seeking the unknown. After Premier Zhou Enlai learned of the matter, he also gave his full support to the film production. He received the support of Wang Lanxi, then director of the administration. In 1955, he wrote a letter to then China’s film administration, in which he explained his filming idea. In The Magic of the Kite, he used the symbol of a kite connecting Beijing and Paris to show the friendship between the children of both countries. He had long planned to create a children’s movie about China. Roger Pigaut was a member of the French Communist Party and was also on the film committee of the France-China Friendship Association. In 1973, Georges Pompidou, then President of France, visited China and said that arts and film had done much to promote diplomacy, and the movie co-produced by China and France promoted people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. A few years later in 1964, China and France established diplomatic relations. This movie was released in both France and China in 19. In the movie, the journey of the French boy Pierrot and his sister Nicole to Beijing symbolized the communication between the Western countries and the PRC. Patrick de Bardine was chosen from the group of boys to play Pierrot.Ī key word for the production of The Magic of the Kite was “searching.” The film tells a simple story of two French children, who with the help of the Monkey King in Chinese mythology, went to search for the owner of a kite, a Chinese boy named Song Xiaoqing.Īnother key word demonstrated in the film is “friendship.” In 1957, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had only been founded for less than 10 years, and China and France had not yet established diplomatic relations. When Roger Pigaut went out of his house, more than 100 boys who met the relevant physical requirements were gathered at his door. The actor who played the role of the young hero Pierrot must be around 10 years old and have freckles on his face. The information was asked for by a Chinese production team, which planned to reunite the main cast of the children’s film and relive the story 60 years ago.Įven more interesting than this, when the original film The Magic of the Kite was produced, the French director Roger Pigaut selected the leading characters after airing a recruitment advertisement on the radio. She had been out of the public eye for many years since then. At the time of the photo, she was five years old and was playing the role of the hero’s sister, Nicole, in The Magic of the Kite. The little girl in the photo was Sylviane Rozenberg. In the program, the production team intercut with an old photo of a little French girl sitting beside the late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, and asked the audience to offer information about this girl. In 2019, French television network TV5 Monde aired a TV program celebrating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China-France diplomatic relations. Actors are busy shooting a scene during the filming of The Magic of the Kite. ![]()
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