"Films about Shaolin usually create a dream, while I was interested in monks as people": the Chinese director Sun Hongyun about the film "Into the Shaolin"

The Chinese director Sun Hongyun presented the film "Into the Shaolin" taking part in the Documentary Film Competition of the 45th Moscow International Film Festival.

The film tells a story about the life of a few monks and the Serbian female anthropologist, who comes to Shaolin to do some fieldwork and tries to understand if it is possible to find exile in Buddhism and get rid of sorrows in today's chaotic world.

"I got interested in this subject when I was depressed and wanted to change myself, to become passionless like a monk. I first went to monasteries in Beijing and then I thought I should go to Shaolin to learn to improve myself from the monks, who train both their body and soul. In fact, not many monks live at the monastery all the time, most of them come and go, though some return later. Most feature films about Shaolin usually create a dream, but I was interested in the monks as people, I wanted to know what their life purpose was", noted Sun Hongyun.