Two years ago at CAFA＊s film department, I was really surprised when I watched a short experimental film titled Lost Memory by the third year student Zhang Yanfeng. It was a very impressive piece, very personal, with a lot of powerful and shocking images. I didn＊t know much about this young student, who looked shy but obviously got strong emotions inside himself at the time.
I got to know him more when I was his supervisor on his graduate film last year. I found he＊s very independent, an honest and hard worker. He made two films when others made only one. Nightmare is a short experimental piece, Brother is a feature documentary, two completely different films. Brother is his first documentary, he was both the director and cinematographer, and he also edited the film. It＊s a film on his young cousin whose own parents had died in Aids, so he has been living at Yanfeng＊s home. The most moving scene of the film is the boy, a HIV positive, very sick and weak, stands against the door and saying: I want to become a useful person＃
Brother was awarded 1st Prize at 2007 CAFA＊s Student Graduate Exhibition, for its strong idea and excellent artistic achievement.
No question that Yanfeng is a very talented young artist, like his unique films his paintings are also showed his special sensibility on frame and color, time and movement, reality and imagination.
I am very proud of him.
* (Shui-Bo Wang is a Guggenheim Fellow and Oscar Nominated filmmaker.)
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