As china's fifth generation of filmmakers, with the fifth generation special life experience, he is enthusiastic about culture, not only Chinese culture but about Western culture as well. Because of that, he created his own unique film-directing style. His films The Story of Qiu Ju; Raise the Red Lantern; Red Sorghum; Shanghai Triad; To Live; and so on have won several international film festival grand prizes, and are well known in most countries. And his latest Chinese martial art film, Hero and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon led his career to a new height as an international director.
As one of the best-known directors of the Chinese Fifth Generation and one of the most influential and widely respected filmmakers working today, he introduces not only Chinese film to the western country but also Chinese culture…
Biography:
Zhang Yimou, born in November 14, 1950, is a Chinese filmmaker and cinematographer who made his directorial debut in 1987 with the film Red Sorghum.
An overage student who was accepted only after extensive appeals, Zhang graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982 along with compatriots Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang. He then began working as a cinematographer for the Guangxi Film Studio. In 1985, Fourth Generation director Wu Tianming invited Zhang to Xi'an Film Studio for his upcoming project Old Well. As cinematographer and actor in Old Well, Zhang won the Tokyo International Film Festival's Best Actor. After that Zhang embarked on his directorial debut Red Sorghum(1987), which catapulted Zhang into the forefront of the world's art directors, winning him critical praise and the Berlin Golden Bear.
In Red Sorghum also is the highly sumptuous visual style of narrative storytelling which was to be the hallmark of Zhang's early films, including Judou (1989) and Raise the Red Lantern (1991), both sponsored with foreign funds. In their depiction of highly intense scenes through controlled, formalized color photography, both films were nominees for the Academy Awards.
The Story of Qiuju (1992) marked a significant change in direction for Zhang. Far less unrelenting with scenes of everyday humor, Zhang used non-professional actors together with his long-time collaborator Gong Li to achieve a neorealist effect.
Most of Zhang's films up to the mid-nineties featured the Chinese actress Gong Li, however, Zhang's romantic relationship ended during production of Shanghai Triad(1995). He discovered a new actress, Zhang Ziyi as protagonist in his next film, The Road Home (1999),.
Zhang's successful major project was the ambitious wuxia drama Hero (2002), which was released in North America two years after its Chinese release and became one of the few foreign language films to top the U.S. box office. It is yet to be seen how well House of Flying Daggers (2004), which is of a similar cast and genre, will do internationally.
Filmography
As a new wave came into being in Chinese cinema by emphasizing the visual and aural qualities of film rather than traditional dramatic and literary elements, The "Fifth Generation" filmmakers, Zhang Yimou has produced the most intensely passionate films. In here we will introduce some of his most successful representative works. You can know more about him and his film through this journey.
