Jia Zhangke ( zh, c=贾樟柯, p=Jiǎ Zhāngkē, born 24 May 1970) .He is a Chinese-language film and television director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and writer. He is the dean of the Shanxi Film Academy of Shanxi Media College and the dean of the Vancouver Film Academy of Shanghai University. He graduated from the Literature Department of Beijing Film Academy. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "
Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as
Wang Xiaoshuai
Wang Xiaoshuai (; born May 22, 1966) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter and occasional actor. He is commonly grouped under the loose association of filmmakers known as the "Sixth Generation" of the Cinema of China. Like others in this gener ...
,
Lou Ye
Lou Ye (), born 1965, is a Chinese screenwriter- director who is commonly grouped with the " Sixth Generation" directors of Chinese cinema.
Films
Born in Shanghai, Lou was educated at the Beijing Film Academy. In 1993, he made his first film ''W ...
,
Wang Quan'an
Wang Quan'an () (b. 1965) is a Sixth Generation Chinese film director. Wang was born in Yan'an, China. He graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1991. He had a ten-year relationship with actress and muse Yu Nan, which ended in 2009.
Career
U ...
and
Zhang Yuan.
Jia's early films, a loose trilogy based in his home province of
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
, were made outside of China's state-run
film bureaucracy, and therefore are considered "underground" films. Beginning in 2004, Jia's status in his own country rose when he was allowed to direct his fourth feature film, ''
The World
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
'', with state approval.
Jia's films have received critical praise and have been recognized internationally, notably winning the Venice Film Festival's top award
Golden Lion
The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...
for ''
Still Life
A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...
''. NPR critic John Powers praised him as "(perhaps) the most important filmmaker working in the world today."
Early life
Jia Zhangke was born in
Fenyang,
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
, China. His interest in film began in the early 1990s, as an art student at the
Shanxi University
Shanxi University (, SXU) is a public university located in the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China. The university was selected into the Double First Class University Plan in February 2022.
History
Early 1900
The Shansi Imperial Univers ...
in
Taiyuan
Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. ...
. On a lark, Jia attended a screening of
Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige (; born 12 August 1952) is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema.Berry, Michael (2002). "Chen Kaige: Historical Revolution and Cinematic Rebellion" in Speaking in Images: Interviews wit ...
's ''
Yellow Earth
''Yellow Earth'' () is a 1984 Chinese drama film. This film is telling a story of a young, village girl who bravely resists old-dated customs and searches for freedom. It was the directorial debut for Chen Kaige. The film's notable cinematography ...
''. The film, according to Jia, was life changing, and convinced the young man that he wanted to be a director.
[Berry, Michael (2002). "Jia Zhangke: Capturing a Transforming Reality" in ]
Speaking in Images: Interviews with Contemporary Chinese Filmmakers
'. Columbia University Press, . Google Book Search. Retrieved 2008-09-09. Jia would eventually make it to China's prestigious
Beijing Film Academy
Beijing Film Academy (BFA; ) is a coeducational state-run higher education institution in Beijing, China. The film school is the largest institution specializing in the tertiary education for film and television production in Asia. The academy h ...
in 1993, as a film theory major, giving him access to both western and eastern classics, as well as an extensive film library.
Career
Early work
While a student at the
Beijing Film Academy
Beijing Film Academy (BFA; ) is a coeducational state-run higher education institution in Beijing, China. The film school is the largest institution specializing in the tertiary education for film and television production in Asia. The academy h ...
, Jia would make three short films to hone his skills. The first, a ten-minute short documentary on tourists in
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square (; 天安门广场; Pinyin: ''Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng''; Wade–Giles: ''Tʻien1-an1-mên2 Kuang3-chʻang3'') is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the eponymous Tiananmen (" ...
entitled ''One Day in Beijing'', was made in 1994 on self-raised funds.
Though Jia has referred to his first directorial effort as inconsequential and "naive", he also described the short day and a half shoot as "excitement...difficult to express in words."
But it was Jia's second directorial effort, the short film ''
Xiao Shan Going Home'' (1995), that would bring him to the attention of the film world. It was a film that helped establish Jia's style and thematic interests and, in Jia's words, was a film that "truly marks the beginning of my career as a filmmaker."
''Xiao Shan'' would eventually screen abroad where it won a top prize at the 1997
Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards.
[ More significantly, the film's success brought Jia in contact with cinematographer ]Yu Lik-wai
Yu Lik-wai (; born 12 August 1966), sometimes credited as Nelson Yu, is a Hong Kong cinematography, cinematographer, film director, and occasional film producer. Born in Hong Kong, Yu Lik-wai was educated at Belgium's INSAS (Institut National Supe ...
and producer Li Kit Ming
Li, li, or LI may refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Landscape Institute, a British professional body for landscape architects
* Leadership Institute, a non-profit organization located in Arlington, Virginia, US, that teaches "political te ...
,[ two men who along with producer/editor Chow Keung would come to form Jia Zhangke's "core...creative team."] With their support, Jia was able to begin work on ''Xiao Wu
''Xiao Wu'' (), also known as ''Pickpocket'', is a 1997 Chinese drama and the first directed by Jia Zhangke. Starring Wang Hongwei in the titular role along with Hao Hongjian and Zuo Baitao, it was filmed in Fenyang, Jia's hometown, in 16 mm.
Sy ...
'', which would become his first feature film. Before graduating, however, Jia would make one more short film, ''Du Du'' (1996), a film about a female college student faced with several life-changing decisions. The film, little seen and rarely available, was for Jia an exercise of experimentation and technique, as it was filmed without a script. For Jia, the film was an important learning experience, even if he was "not terribly proud" of the end result.
Underground success
Upon graduation, Jia embarked on his first feature-length film, with producer Li Kit Ming and cinematographer Yu Lik-wai. ''Xiao Wu'', a film about a pickpocket in Jia's native Fenyang, emerged from Jia's desire to capture the massive changes that had happened to his home in the past few years. Additionally, the film was a rejection of what Jia felt was the fifth generation's increasing tendency to move away from the reality of modern China and into the realm of historical legend. Shot on a mere 400,000 RMB budget (or about US$50,000),[ ''Xiao Wu'' would prove to be a major success on the international film circuit, bringing Jia a deal with ]Takeshi Kitano
is a Japanese comedian, television presenter, actor, filmmaker, and author. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. With th ...
's production house
A producing house is a theatre which ‘manufactures' its own shows in-house (such as plays, musicals, opera, or dance) and perhaps does everything from honing the script, building the set, casting the actors and designing and making the costum ...
.[
Jia capitalized on his success with ''Xiao Wu'' with a two internationally acclaimed independent features. The first, '']Platform
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
'', was partially funded in 1998 through the Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) of the Busan (Pusan) International Film Festival when Jia received the Hubert Bals Fund Award (HBF) for his project. (Ahn, Soo Jeong, ''The Pusan Film Festival, South Korean Cinema and Globalization'', 2012, 104-105). ''Platform'' was a three-hour epic about a provincial dance and music troupe transitioning from the 1970s to the early 1990s. The film has been called the masterpiece of the entire sixth generation movement.
Starring Wang Hongwei
Wang Hongwei (; born in Anyang, Henan) is a Chinese actor. Wang is perhaps best known for his work with director Jia Zhangke. The two men were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy when they began their professional relationship, with Wang star ...
, Jia's classmate and star of ''Xiao Shan Going Home'' and ''Xiao Wu'', ''Platform'' was also the first of Jia's films to star actress Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao (born 28 January 1977) is a Chinese actress. She works in China and occasionally Europe, and has appeared in 10 films and several shorts since starting her career in 1999. She is best known for her collaborations with her husband, di ...
, a former dance teacher. Zhao would go on to serve as Jia's muse as the lead female role in ''Unknown Pleasures'', ''The World'', and ''Still Life'', as well as acting in ''24 City'' and the short film '' Cry Me a River'' (both in 2008).
With 2002's ''Unknown Pleasures
''Unknown Pleasures'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Joy Division, released on 15 June 1979 by Factory Records. The album was recorded and mixed over three successive weekends at Stockport's Strawberry Studios in April 1979, wit ...
'', Jia began a foray into filming in digital video
Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data. This is in contrast to analog video, which represents moving visual images in the form of analog signals. Digital video comprises ...
(although his first experimentation with the medium came a year before, in 2001's short documentary ''In Public
A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads (including the pavement), public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to ...
''). ''Xiao Wu'', ''Platform'' and ''Unknown Pleasures'' are sometimes seen collectively as an informal trilogy of China's transition into modernity. ''Unknown Pleasures'', a meditation on the aimless "birth control" generation to emerge from the one-child policy
The term one-child policy () refers to a population planning initiative in China implemented between 1980 and 2015 to curb the country's population growth by restricting many families to a single child. That initiative was part of a much bro ...
helped cement Jia's reputation as a major voice in contemporary Chinese cinema. All this despite limited theatrical runs and obscurity in mainland China. Indeed, none of the three films was ever publicly released in the PRC, although unlicensed DVD sales were brisk, a fact commented on by Jia near the end of ''Unknown Pleasures'' when Xiao Wu, the character (Wang Hongwei again), attempts to buy the DVD of ''Xiao Wu'', the film.
Wider success
Beginning with 2004's ''The World
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
'', Jia began to work with official approval from the Chinese government. The shift from independent to state-approved was not in isolation, however, but was part of a broader movement by many "underground" film directors turning legitimate. For many critics, the shift to legitimacy did not blunt Jia's critical eye, and ''The World'' was well received both abroad and – somewhat surprisingly – by the Chinese government.[ Taking place in ]Beijing World Park
Beijing World Park () is a theme park that attempts to give visitors the chance to see the world without having to leave Beijing. The park covers 46.7 hectares and is located in the southwestern Fengtai District of Beijing. It is about 17 k ...
, the film was also Jia's first to take place outside of his home province of Shanxi.
In 2006, Jia returned to his experimentation with digital film
:
Digital cinematography is the process of capturing (recording) a motion picture using digital image sensors rather than through film stock. As digital technology has improved in recent years, this practice has become dominant. Since the mid- ...
with his film ''Still Life
A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...
''. The film would see Jia's status both at home and abroad raised when it won the coveted Golden Lion
The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...
in the 2006 Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
. The film, a diptych film about two people searching for their spouses in the backdrop of the Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world ...
, was accompanied by the companion documentary '' Dong'', about artist Liu Xiaodong
Liu Xiaodong (; born 1963 in Liaoning, China) is a contemporary Chinese artist.
Education
Liu was born in 1963 in the small industrial village of Jincheng, a pulp and paper-producing center on the outskirts of Jinzhou in Liaoning province. A ...
.
The 2000s have seen Jia at a prolific period of his career. Following the success of ''Still Life'', Jia was reported to be working on a gangster film, ''The Age of Tattoo'' ("''Ciqing shidai''"). Originally planned to be released in 2007, production on ''The Age of Tattoo'' was delayed after lead Jay Chou
Jay Chou ( zh, t=周杰倫, s=周杰伦, poj=Chiu Kia̍t-lûn, p=Zhōu Jiélún, first=t, w=Chou Chieh-lun; born January 18, 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, actor, and television personality. Dubbed the " King ...
pulled out of the project, with Jia moving on to other films. These included a second documentary, '' Useless'', about China's clothing manufacturing business, which garnered the director the Orizzonti Doc Prize at Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
in 2008, and '' 24 City'', an ambitious work that conveys the historic changes that have swept across China in the last half-century through the lens of a single factory and the people connected to it by labor and blood. At the London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...
, ''24 City'' was accompanied by another Jia short film, '' Cry Me a River'', a romance starring ''Summer Palace
The Summer Palace () is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing dynasty. Inside includes Longevity Hill () Kunming Lake and Seventeen Hole Bridge. It covers an expanse of , three-quarter ...
'' actors, Hao Lei
Hao Lei (born 1 November 1978) is a Chinese actress and singer, known for her starring roles in Lou Ye's films ''Summer Palace'' (2006) and ''Mystery'' (2012).
Biography
In 2003, Hao Lei starred in Liao Yimei's play ''Rhinoceros in Love'' in Sha ...
and Guo Xiaodong
"Guo", written in Chinese language, Chinese: wikt:郭, 郭, is one of the most common Chinese surnames and means "the wall that surrounds a city" in Chinese. It can also be transliterated into English as Cok, Gou, Quo, Quach, Quek, Que, Keh, ...
, and Jia regulars Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao (born 28 January 1977) is a Chinese actress. She works in China and occasionally Europe, and has appeared in 10 films and several shorts since starting her career in 1999. She is best known for her collaborations with her husband, di ...
and Wang Hongwei
Wang Hongwei (; born in Anyang, Henan) is a Chinese actor. Wang is perhaps best known for his work with director Jia Zhangke. The two men were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy when they began their professional relationship, with Wang star ...
.
'' I Wish I Knew'' is a documentary exploring the changing face of Shanghai. '' I Wish I Knew'' debuted in the Un certain regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
competition in the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
During the press conference of 18 April 2013, Jia's film '' Tian Zhu Ding'' (''A Touch of Sin'') was nominated for the Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival
The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and S ...
. He won the award for Best Screenplay. In April 2014, he was announced as a member of the main competition jury at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival
The 67th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition section. The Palme d'Or was awarded to the Turkish film '' Winter Sleep'' directed by Nuri Bi ...
.
His 2015 film ''Mountains May Depart
''Mountains May Depart'' () is a 2015 Mandarin-language drama and the 8th feature film directed by Jia Zhangke. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. and was also selected to be shown in the Special Presentations secti ...
'' was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival
The 68th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition. It was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a separate ...
.
In October 2017, Jia announced the establishment of the Pingyao International Film Festival
The Pingyao International Film Festival (PYIFF), officially as "Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival", is a film festival held in Pingyao, Shanxi, China. It was launched in October 2017 by Jia Zhangke, a Chinese fil ...
(PYIFF) in Shanxi.
Style and influences
Jia's films treat themes of alienated youth, contemporary Chinese history and globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
, as well as his signature usage of the long-take, colorful digital video
Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data. This is in contrast to analog video, which represents moving visual images in the form of analog signals. Digital video comprises ...
and his minimalist
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
/ realist style. ''The World'', in particular, with its portrayal of gaudy theme park filled with recreations of foreign landmarks is often noted for its critique of the globalization of China.
Jia's work speaks to a vision of "authentic" Chinese life, and his consistent return to the themes of alienation and disorientation fly in the face of the work of older filmmakers who present more idealized understandings of Chinese society. Critic Howard Feinstein described the director as a "rare breed of filmmaker capable of combining stunning artifice with documentary truth."
Critics have noted that whereas "Fifth Generation" filmmakers such as Zhang Yimou
Zhang Yimou (; born 2 April 1950) is a Chinese film director, producer, writer, actor and former cinematographer.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retriev ...
churn out export-friendly and lushly-colored wuxia
( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...
dramas, Jia, as a "Sixth Generation" filmmaker, rejects the idealization of these narratives in favor of a more nuanced style. His films, from ''Xiao Wu'' and ''Unknown Pleasures'' to ''Platform'' and ''The World'', eschew the son et lumière that characterizes so many contemporary Chinese exports. But the films' recurrent and reflexive use of "pop" motifs ensure that they are more self-aware than the similarly documentarian Chinese films of Jia's Sixth Generation peers.
Jia has commented in the past on the influence of filmmakers Hou Hsiao-hsien
Hou Hsiao-hsien (; born 8 April 1947) is a Mainland Chinese-born Taiwanese film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a leading figure in world cinema and in Taiwan's New Wave cinema movement. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice ...
and Yasujirō Ozu
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...
on his work.[Chan, Andre]
"Interview: Jia Zhangke"
''Filmcomment''. Retrieved 2015-07-22. '' I Wish I Knew'', a 2010 documentary of his, features a segment about the 1972 documentary Chung Kuo, by Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...
– another filmmaker to whose work Jia's own has been compared.
Filmography
As director
Feature films
Documentaries
Short films
As actor
As producer
:(Excluding production credits for Jia's own directorial efforts.)
See also
* Xstream Pictures
Xstream Pictures is a Chinese production company, based out of Beijing and Hong Kong.
Company Founders
It was founded by filmmakers Jia Zhangke, Chow Keung, and Yu Lik-wai.
Company History
Formed in 2003, the company's first production was Jia ...
– Jia Zhangke's production company, founded with Yu Lik-wai and Chow Keung
Works
* ''Jia Zhangke Speaks Out: The Chinese Film Director's Texts on Film.'' Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2014.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jia, Zhangke
1970 births
Living people
Beijing Film Academy alumni
Chinese documentary filmmakers
Chinese film directors
Film directors from Shanxi
People from Lüliang
Post 70s Generation
Screenwriters from Shanxi
Film festival founders
Directors of Golden Lion winners
Best Director Asian Film Award winners
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners