Tilda Swinton stars in a short film directed by Oscar-nominated German director Wim Wenders for Chanel’s 2024-2025 Métiers d’Art show, which celebrates artistry and craftsmanship. Shanghai”) and Chinese pop artist Lia Du.
The show will be held on December 3rd on the banks of the scenic West Lake in Hangzhou, China. The latter provides a fitting backdrop for the Métiers d’Art show, given the city’s vibrant tradition of silk manufacturing and trade. Hangzhou’s lush landscapes and lakes have been a source of inspiration for many artists, especially Chanel founder Gabrielle Chanel, whose imagination is reflected in Wenders’ films.
Gabrielle Chanel gazed at this lake every day from her home in Paris. The lake was depicted on a Chinese lacquered screen that adorned his private office on Rue Cambon, and was part of a collection of around 20 Coromandel works dating from the 17th to 19th centuries. , which she accumulated over a lifetime.
“It has been a true privilege for me to have been close to Chanel House for over 12 years, and my enthusiasm for the work we can do together only grows each year,” said Swinton. Her role in Pedro Almodovar’s Venice Golden Lion-winning film The Room Next Door put her in the Oscar race. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Role in 2008 for “Michael Clayton.”
“Chanel takes its role as a patron of culture and a source of support and encouragement to artists and arts organizations around the world very seriously, and in my view, this work is never more important. “No,” Swinton continued.
In Wenders’ poetic film, hypnotic screen reality becomes reality as Swinton embarks on a journey through Hangzhou, where he immerses himself in the landscape and meets local artists. Shot between Paris and Hangzhou, the film blends past and present, fantasy and reality, juxtaposing natural backdrops with symbols of modern life, from the laptop screen to the camera. It also honors intercultural dialogue.
Although Gabrielle Chanel herself had never visited China, she was deeply inspired by the images contained on Chinese screens, which fueled her visual language. Symbols of Chinese culture appeared in her work during the 1950s and 1960s.
Director Wenders, whose last feature film “Perfect Days” represented Japan in the 2024 Oscar race and was nominated for the International Feature Film Award, said that in preparation for this film, “I spent some time in Mademoiselle Chanel’s office.” and studied the Coromandel screen.” “It made a big impression on me. Somehow it was like a very early movie screen or a giant comic book with lots of little stories.”
“Everywhere I looked, there was another scene of everyday life,” he says. “The biggest inspiration for all my films is place. Most of them started with a desire to find a story that belonged to a particular place that I found and loved. That story needed to belong there. And it couldn’t “happen” anywhere else. ”
Meanwhile, Jiray said, “Hangzhou embodies a deep cultural heritage, while at the same time embracing the spirit of modern innovation, a vision consistent with Gabrielle Chanel’s pioneering ideals.”
She praised the film as “full of poetry, full of charm and exploration, much like the feeling the city of Hangzhou gives me.” During the shoot, we were awestruck by the hazy beauty of the garden as dusk approached, and we captured this emotion together and shared it through images. ”
“I have always believed that culture is an important source of inspiration for artistic creation,” Dou said. She feels that “a place like Hangzhou still has a strong cultural foundation, so it’s fitting that so many poems and traditions have come from this place.” “Now it’s a modern, developed city, with a perfect blend of culture and modernity,” Dou says.
