I hope they will "have everything" -- Interview with Documentary Director Jiang Nengjie

Documentary Director Jiang Nengjie always focuses his camera lens on disadvantaged groups. He spent two years filming the daily lives of a group of people with mental disabilities, resulting in the documentary “We Will Have Everything". It entered the “Weekly Word of Mouth Film List” on the rating platform Douban soon after its release. Recently, our reporter had an interview with Jiang.

Reporter: Before shooting, how much did you know about this group of people? What was special when filming them?

Jiang: Before shooting, I didn't specifically know much about this group of people, but had contact with them. The village where I was born had people with mental disabilities. Our village held prejudices against these people, their families faced heavy pressures all around. I hope everyone can see the existence of this group, and help them.

During the shooting process, we needed to first let them adapt to our presence. Casually taking our machines in and out might offend them, hence at the beginning, we didn't take our equipment. We started by getting along with them, going to class and hanging out together, to let them get used to us, and then get used to the camera.

Reporter: Were there any memorable things during shooting?

Jiang: There was an anecdote that was memorable to me. A person with mental disabilities went to a KFC restaurant with his mom. There were many customers, and his mom was waiting in line. This person loves drinking coke and he could not wait any longer. He grabbed the coke from a neighboring table and drank from it, which soon resulted in an argument with the customer who bought this coke. When the person’s mom found out, she hurriedly came to apologize and explain. Some of the people around stayed away, others were watching. In the end, the customer still felt offended and called the police. I was thinking at the time, what would the mother feel after heading home? How much pressure must she feel if she takes her child out again?

Reporter: After shooting, what new things have you learnt about people with mental disabilities? What do you hope audiences will gain from this film?

Jiang: Audiences who watched the film all found one of the protagonists, Liu Hao, very cute and polite. The title of the film also came from a moment that the cameraman captured with him, when Liu said: "We will have iced black tea, we will have Nongfu Spring water, and we will have everything." I think this is mainly because he grew up in an environment full of love. His family loves him and respects him, the staff at his institution also respects him. Otherwise, he would not turn out like this.

Not every person with mental disabilities has this kind of environment. After filming this documentary, I thought, when I encounter this group later, how can I treat them better? For instance, I can smile to them, don’t rush them, and let them take their time.

We tend to use a singular standard to measure people and things, and we don't tolerate anything that’s different. If the other person looks or acts differently, then we would treat them differently. Some might say, it is rare to encounter this group of people in our daily lives. I think this depends on how people treat this group, and if they have enough kindness, understanding, and trust. I hope more people with mental disabilities can come out of their contained environments, and enjoy the sunshine and freedom.

Contributed by: Chen Huijuan, reporter of Guangming Daily