Cinematographer Hou Yong was born in 1960 and was Zhang Yimou's classmate in the cinematography class of the Beijing Film Academy. He has worked on such films as THE DAY THE SUN TURNED COLD by Hong Kong director Yim Ho and Tian Zhuangzhuang's HORSE THIEF and THE BLUE KITE. This is his second film with Zhang Yimou after NOT ONE LESS. Art Director Cao Jiuping graduated from the Xian Art Institute in 1982 and has worked on all of Zhang Yimou's films. Soundman Wu Lala is a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy in Sound. His previous films include: EAST PALACE, WEST PALACE by Zhang Yuan, EIGHTEEN SPRINGS by Hong Kong director Ann Hui, SPICY LOVE SOUP by Zhang Ming and NOT ONE LESS. Editor Zhai Ru is originally from Beijing and worked as continuity on the films IN THE HEAT OF THE SUN by Jiang Wen, TEMPTRESS MOON by Chen Kaige. She served as editor on Zhang Yimou's KEEP COOL and NOT ONE LESS and Lu Yue's Locarno Golden Leopard winner MR. ZHAO. Music composer San Bao was born in Beijing in 1968 and is a graduate of the Beijing Music Institute. He has worked as composer on the films THE DIVORCE, BE THERE OR BE SQUARE and NOT ONE LESS. Original screenwriter, Bao Shi was born in Heilongjiang Province in 1959. He was a farmer, teacher and majored in Dramatic Literature at the Heilongjiang Arts Academy. He is now based in Harbin and has written several novels, including REINCARNATION, FANTASYLAND, BAI ZHUANG, FIELD OF DREAMS, COUNTRY MUSIC and SPRING AND AUTUMN MEMORIES. "The Road Home" From an Interview with Zhang Yimou Chinese society has changed so fast that most people feel lost. The Chinese cinema reflects these developments. These days the market economy dominates everything and our cultural life has lost its way. Really vulgar commercial films dominate our screens. Directors who would once have been ashamed to make such films are nowadays proud to put their names to them. It's a sad state of affairs, and I find myself wondering if people really like such films. I made my last two films NOT ONE LESS and THE ROAD HOME as a reaction against the current tendencies in Chinese cinema, against the logic of the market. I wanted them to be simple, immediate and anchored in reality. I believe the public will accept them, since they address the viewer with real feelings and emotions. The budgets for these two films were way below what I had for such films as SHANGHAI TRIAD. What I wanted to show was the thinking and dreams of ordinary people at the close of this century in which China is changing so radically in the wake of so many upheavals. The pressure of the market is intense. We want to remain true to ourselves, but how should we do that? In the 1980s, films found their audience naturally. Now it's much more difficult. But I'm proud to have made these two films. It's incumbent upon us to preserve the best traditions of the Chinese cinema. Look at the Italian Neo-realist movement or the French 'New Wave': they built something which has lasted and which belongs to a fine tradition. Chinese cinema shouldn't allow itself to be so much influenced by Hollywood. I very much like Abbas Kiarostami's films, and I often discuss Iranian cinema with my friends. I say to them: "Look, we think we have it hard here in China, but the pressures of Islamic orthodoxy in Iran are far worse than anything we have to contend with here. But despite the pressures, Iranian directors succeed in making great films!" What really counts is not the circumstances we live in or the historical moment but the deepest wishes of the director, what he or she wants to show, the way of showing it, the underlying principles. In such respects, Iran shows us the way forward. THE ROAD HOME, which is set in the present day, is very different from NOT ONE LESS. It's closer to another Chinese tradition, that of the poetic narrative. It's oriented towards a certain kind of beauty, very carefully framed in Cinemascope images. Half of the actors in the film are non-professionals. I had as much trouble finding them as I did finding the non-professional cast for Not One Less. At the same time, the professional actors in the film are very young and don't have much experience that goes particularly for the two leads in the film's long flashback, both of them are 20 years old. The film's storyline is very simple, built around the character that narrates it. He's a man who works in the city, far from the village where he was born. When his father dies he comes home for the funeral. He spends three days with his mother, thinking back to the period in which his parents met and fell in love. There is a certain strand of autobiography running through this, although I'm not telling my own story in the film. My own father died in 1997, while I was working on TURANDOT for the Florence Opera. I wasn't with him when he died. I went back to Xian for his funeral.