When Japanese director Ryo Takeuchi showed up for his scheduled online interview with China Daily, he was sitting in a cafe near an ancient site in Zhengzhou, Henan province.
“Look, the old wall is 3,600 years old,” he said excitedly through his phone, pointing out the window, before revealing that he planned to stop at the Yellow River Museum the next day.
From May to June, Takeuchi toured the country selling his documentary The Yangtze River, an acclaimed feature film that scored 8. 5 out of 10 numbers on review aggregator Douban.
Moved through scenes that vividly reflect life along the titular river, audiences in cities along other rivers in the country also invited him to make their rivers the subject of his next projects.
“In northern China, other people have expressed a preference for me to make a documentary about the Yellow River. When I visited cinemas in southern cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen, other people told me to make a documentary about the Pearl River,” says Takeuchi.
In Zhengzhou, to attend a cultural activity, Takeuchi explained why he took the opportunity to explore the history and culture of the city, a former position along the Yellow River.