The leading figure of the “six generation” movement in Chinese cinema, award-winning director Jia Zhangke recently closed the Hong Kong International Film Festival with his docu-drama “24 City.” He talks to June Ng about the importance of individuality.

I grew up in the era of China’s social reforms in Shanxi. My entire life has been punctuated by the drastic changes of developing China, which is why I like to explore change and its impact on people in my films.

Changing one’s destiny was hard when I was young. No one could leave their hometown. The only way out for young people was to join the army or go to university.

My Dad told me that I had to go to university to give myself options in life. But my grades weren’t good and I was quite rebellious, so I went to an art college instead. Later, I went to the Beijing Film Academy because I wanted to be a director.

“24 City” is about a secret arms factory in Sichuan that was demolished to make way for a real estate project. Over 10,000 people lost their jobs.

It’s very important to document changes. I try to explore how individuals are affected by economic change. I want the workers to tell their own stories.

But it was hard to get factory workers to talk about themselves in “24 City”. They don’t really have a concept of individuality; they see themselves as small components of a big machine. So to fill in the gaps, I had to add some creative elements. That’s why there are some actors among the real interviews.

We used to focus solely on economic change, but now we’re starting to care about individuality, emotion and freedom. We’re becoming human.

The Cultural Revolution showed me what absolute power can do to a person.

I plan to make an erotic movie. People have been repressed since the June 4 incident, and sex is a way for many of them to vent their frustrations.

If I’m ever allowed, I’d really like to shoot a film about the June 4 incident.

We lost our confidence in our own culture during all the changes in China in the past 50 years. We don’t cherish our history; we don’t want to face it and we don’t want to deal with it.

People say that China is getting rich, but this is just an illusion. How can you say a country is rich when almost half of the people live in poverty?

It’s wrong to say that we should sacrifice people for the greater good. This is a major failing of contemporary China.

Hong Kong is getting more like a mainland city, and the Hongkongers’ values are becoming more like mainlanders’. Their individuality is fading.

Pragmatism is both the success and failure of our society. Take Hong Kong movies for example. We can change the entire plot or the ending just to allow it to be shown on the mainland. You get the money, but it’s damaging to local cinema.

I have never compromised, which is why I have three movies banned in China, although they are all about China.

When you visit places like Rome or Spain, you see how loyal they are to their history and culture. I admire how their daily lives and their ancient heritage can blend together so well.

Asian cities, on the other hand, exhaust me.

China isn’t ruled by law; it’s ruled by people, and it’s this kind of censorship that really kills one’s imagination.