Chen Jie, director of So Long Summer Vacation. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]

Children's movie So Long Summer Vacation directed by Chen Jie from Hai'an, Nantong, was recently nominated for the 35th Golden Rooster Awards.

The movie was released in March and it has also been nominated for awards at the 62nd Zlin Film Festival, which focuses on films about children and teenagers.

"I can see myself in the young hero, and his summer vacation actually is based on my childhood memories," said the director.

Many children long for summer vacation, but for children with no siblings, it often means loneliness. Learning how to live with loneliness had been a problem faced by children from one-child families in China for a long time, according to Chen.

A screenshot from So Long Summer Vacation. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]

"When I created the script, the streets, rivers, and ponds in Hai'an naturally came to me," said Chen, "I gave many of my memories of summer vacation to the protagonist Chen Xiaojin."

For example, children who cannot swim are often curious about swimming in a river, and both the protagonist and director have been saved from drowning.

Director Chen noted that art imitates life and that one's home is the most durable source of inspiration. Hai'an has seen rapid development over the years and he would like to go back to Hai'an to live for a while to create a film there, said Chen.

A graduate of Fudan University, Chen started writing scripts in 2015 and has also translated the works of French writer Albert Camus, including The Outsider and The Plague.