Finding warmth in Beijing

Despite a grueling festival schedule packed with post-screening discussions and public appearances, Russian director Andrei Zaitsev rarely turned away an eager Chinese film fan.

Outside a crowded room in a downtown cinema during the 16th Beijing International Film Festival held late last month, he patiently signed posters one after another, pausing for selfies with a gentle smile. At one point, he even stopped an event organizer to ask fans to speed up the signing process and skip photos, so the long line could move more quickly.

For Zaitsev, 50, who brought his latest film, Two People in One Life and a Dog, to Beijing, the warmth of the reception came as an unexpected surprise. Chinese audiences, he said, often picked up on subtle details and emotional nuances that even Russian moviegoers had overlooked.

Such attentiveness became especially apparent during the film's post-screening exchanges. At one session, a female audience member raised her hand to ask about a scene that had clearly resonated with many local viewers. In it, one of the protagonists — a retired intellectual — meticulously copies an album of Song Dynasty (960-1279) fine-brush paintings in his study. The delicate depictions of birds and plants evoked a strong sense of familiarity among Chinese viewers.

"The inspiration came from the story of a renowned Russian philosopher and his wife," Zaitsev explained.

As the philosopher's birthday approached, his wife asked what gift he wanted most. He requested a rare and expensive album of Song Dynasty paintings, published in China in the 1950s. Finding a copy proved difficult. Determined to fulfill his wish, she went to bookstores in Moscow and, by luck, discovered the last remaining copy — which she purchased with the exact amount of money she happened to have on her at the time.

The scene, Zaitsev added, was also shaped by his friendship with the late Russian actor Sergey Dreyden (1941-2023), who acted in his 2020 directorial feature, A Siege Diary, about the brutal Siege of Leningrad during World War II. The historic feature earned Zaitsev the Tiantan Award for Best Director at the 11th Beijing International Film Festival in 2021.

"I became very close friends with Dreyden. We talked constantly, shared books and spent a lot of time together. He was a warm person. People naturally gravitated toward him, as if seeking warmth from his presence alone. I wanted that warmth to reach many viewers, not only the people around him," recalls the director with China Daily during an interview.

Dreyden loved sketching on electric trains or outdoors in nature. He often walked his dog through the streets of St. Petersburg, slowly wandering through the city he loved. "Many details in the film came directly from him," the director says.

That quiet tenderness permeates Two People in One Life and a Dog. Selected from 1,826 submissions from 139 countries and regions, the film was nominated for this year's Tiantan Awards, the festival's top honor. Following its screening, it received a score of 8.7 out of 10 on the Chinese review platform Douban.

Told in a restrained yet deeply humane tone, the story follows an elderly intellectual couple living in St. Petersburg. Having survived World War II as children, they confront loneliness after their adult children emigrate abroad. Accompanied by their pet dog, their quiet lives regain warmth when they befriend a young neighbor girl suffering under an abusive father.

The film lingers on seemingly trivial yet poetic moments. In one such memorable sequence, the husband becomes irritated by the vulgar commentary blaring from a tourist cruise ship along a river. Unable to tolerate it, he impulsively volunteers to serve as the guide himself, captivating passengers with stories about the literary giants who once lived and wandered along the riverbanks.

"The marriage in the film shows how difficult love can be. The elderly couple's affection for each other is unconditional. Their relationship is built on mutual respect and steadfast support through every hardship," says Zaitsev.

Yet while the film radiates warmth on-screen, its production was marked by setbacks. In 2023, just two months before filming was scheduled to begin, Sergey Dreyden, the actor originally chosen for the lead role, passed away, forcing production to be postponed for an extended period.

Even the film's canine star brought unexpected complications. The couple's pet, a border collie, was highly obedient and capable of performing complex actions on command. But the dog, interestingly, had a habit of stealing scenes.

"Because our two elderly actors tired easily, we usually filmed their scenes first. But when we started shooting, the dog would suddenly run into the frame. Later, during editing, we realized it had appeared so often that it had practically become one of the lead actors," recalls Zaitsev.

The festival marked Zaitsev's first visit to Beijing, a city he says reminds him in some ways of Moscow, as they serve as capitals of two vast countries. What impresses him most, however, is the greenery.

"I have noticed that Beijing has a large number of trees. Many of them are no longer young saplings but towering old trees. That shows China has been committed to environmental protection and urban greening for many years already," he says.

Like many first-time visitors, Zaitsev toured the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. He was amused to discover that the bedrooms for emperors and their wives inside the sprawling palace complex were surprisingly modest in size.

But it was an ordinary human moment that stayed with him most vividly: in a narrow palace lane, an elderly man in a wheelchair slowly crossed paths with a baby sitting in a stroller — one face marked by age and weariness, the other filled with new life and curiosity. To the director, it felt like a fleeting scene that could be used in one of his future films.

Asked whether he would be interested in making a film in China, Zaitsev, who says he admires the works of Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, replies that the stories he most longs to tell remain simple ones — films about ordinary people, their emotions and the details of everyday life.