Tiantan Award
Retrospective of Tiantan Award Jury President Zhang Yimou
Mr. Zhang Yimou has been invited to chair the Jury of the Competition Section, Tiantan Award at the 13th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF). The Beijing Film Panorama section leverages this opportunity to launch a retrospective of Zhang Yimou’s works, with a selection of his five classical masterpieces, including One and Eight, Old Well, Red Sorghum, Raise The Red Lantern, and The Story of Qiu-Ju, to look back at his key moments of film career and pay tribute to him.
Zhang Yimou
Jury President of the Tiantan Award at the 13th BJIFF
Throughout Zhang’s filmmaking path, we can clearly see him keep making breakthroughs and innovating, from his film aesthetics in pursuit of a combination of artistry and appreciative value that made him lead the fifth generation of Chinese directors in the 80s and 90s, to the shift of his attention from arthouse films to commercial films at the beginning of the millennium, to the rich variety of subjects and genres he has produced in recent years.
Among a large bundle of his well-known works, those early productions between the 80s and 90s, a period that is an important yet impossible-to-ignore stage of Zhang Yimou’s creative career, less hit the silver screen.
This retrospective will stay focused on Zhang’s early films. Through this stunning collection of works, we will get to know Zhang Yimou as a photographer, actor, and director in a new light. Further, these five pieces are even a record of his continuous attempts to pull Chinese cinema into line with world cinema.
One and Eight 1983
One and Eight, a pioneering film of the fifth generation of Chinese directors, is unique in terms of cinematography and composition, bringing a revolutionary visual language to Chinese cinema. And Zhang also won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Cinematography for it, on which he worked as director of photographer.
Poster of One and Eight
Old Well 1986 (4k)
Zhang was awarded Best Actor in the Competition section of the Tokyo International Film Festival for his appearance as Sun Wangquan in Old Well (with 4K digital restoration for this retrospective), which was the Best Film winner at the same film festival.
Still of Old Well
Red Sorghum 1988 (4k)
Red Sorghum, Zhang’s directorial debut and the recipient of Golden Bear in the Competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival, brought Zhang to the forefront of the world’s art directors.
Still of Red Sorghum
Raise The Red Lantern 1991
Raise The Red Lantern is the winner of Silver Lion at the 1991 Venice International Film Festival and a nominee for Best International Feature Film at the 1992 Academy Awards. In this film, Zhang Yimou uses his iconic aesthetic design to tell an extra measure of a female story. This is a rare opportunity for Chinese audiences to watch this film in the cinema, which will show deep respect for Prof. Ni Zhen, the screenwriter of this film and a famous film scholar who passed away at the end of last year.
Still of Raise The Red Lantern
The Story of Qiu-Ju 1992
The Story of Qiu-Ju, the winner of Golden Lion at the 1992 Venice International Film Festival, where Gong Li was awarded Best Actress, and of both the Golden Rooster Award and the People’s Hundred Flowers Award for Best Feature Film, celebrates the perseverance and determination of the masses.
Still of The Story of Qiu-Ju
