Challenge helps Zhao Wei uncover emotions

 

Actress Zhao Wei speaks to the media for the movie Qin Ai De (Dearest) during the 71st Venice Film Festival, in Lido of Venice, Italy on Aug 29. 2014. The 71st Venice Film Festival runs from Aug 27 to Sept 6. [Photo/Xinhua]

Zhao Wei: Acting as a foster mother is challenging

Peter Chan's 'Dearest' screens in Venice

The opportunity to collaborate with the leading director in the Asian film industry was precious, says the actress. Zhao says she had to work hard to build her character.

"At the beginning I had no image in my mind of this mother from the countryside, and I had to attentively look for her. I reasoned a lot, until I gradually managed to get closer and closer to Li," she says.

In the meantime, the actress had to learn to speak a rural dialect.

Qin'ai de is based on a true story that Chan learned from a news documentary around two years ago. He decided to turn it into a film that is able to show both sides of the story.

For this reason, Chan opted for a switch of protagonists. He centered the first half of the film on the biological mother's struggle to rescue her child, while dedicating the second part to the heartbroken foster mother, who is seen as a criminal.

Zhao, whose directorial debut, So Young, was a major success at the Chinese box office last year, says that being a part of Chan's new film was an opportunity for her to rediscover the value of working as an actress.

"At the end I found out that portraying Li helped me uncover and express some emotions and feelings that were hidden in my heart," she says.

Based on the positive reactions it has received at the Venice film festival, Qin'ai de is expected to be especially appreciated for its valuable contribution to raising social awareness about child abduction.