讀後心得

The movie "Enola" features the lead actress Maggie Madison, who works as a burlesque dancer and won the Oscar for Best Actress for her outstanding performance. After the pandemic, the American independent film industry faces challenges such as funding difficulties and fewer opportunities in theaters. Director Sean Baker has consistently shot films with low budgets and amateur actors, using his works to give a voice to marginalized individuals. This year, he won four Oscar awards for "Enola," becoming a benchmark in the industry. Sean Baker was introduced to film in New York and later shifted to independent production, creating themes that are true and moving.

The female lead of "Enola," played by 麥琪麥迪遜, delivered an outstanding performance, winning the Oscar for Best Actress this year. The independent film market in the United States has undergone significant changes after the pandemic, with fundraising becoming more difficult and opportunities for theatrical releases significantly decreasing. As a result, overall box office revenues have shrunk, causing concern among industry professionals. Despite these challenges, American independent filmmakers continue to adhere to low-budget and small team shooting methods, incorporating amateur actors into their works to give a voice to social marginalized individuals.

This year, he won four Oscars for "Enola," including Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Editing, setting an unparalleled benchmark for the industry. The 54-year-old director has been inspired by films since childhood, having watched many monster movies with his mother at the community library. Influenced by films like "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," he developed a longing to direct Hollywood commercial films. After enrolling at New York University, he was exposed to the works of directors like Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, and Richard Linklater, leading him to pay attention to independent films.

For him, New York City serves as a large film education institution. During his studies, he frequently visited the Museum of Modern Art, Lincoln Center, and the Film Center, and was a loyal audience member at various art cinemas. He gradually fell in love with works that do not rely on special effects but instead tell stories about humanity, which laid the foundation for his directorial career. After graduating from college, he worked as a sound and video producer at a publishing company while picking up freelance work on commercials to save some money. Realizing that he could not produce a blockbuster action film, he chose the path of independent production, directing his first work "The Four-Letter Word" at the age of 25, with a budget of $50,000 primarily spent on purchasing film stock, and he ultimately had to scramble to borrow props to complete the project.

Four years later, "The Four-Letter Word" was selected for the 2000 South by Southwest Film Festival, which encouraged him. Although the critical response was positive, he ultimately did not recoup his investment due to limited distribution. However, he did not become discouraged. During this time, Danish director Lars von Trier and others initiated the "Dogma Manifesto," advocating for low-cost productions that do not rely on special effects to create authentic and touching works. Influenced by this, he co-directed "Takeout" with Taiwanese producer 鄒時擎, telling the story of illegal Chinese immigrants working as delivery drivers in New York's Chinese restaurants, with a budget of only $3,000 and a production team of just three people, one of whom also played a lead role in the film. The film was selected for several small film festivals but had yet to be screened in theaters.