He Jianjun (; born 1960 in BeijingBarbieri, Maria (2005). "He Jianjun" i
''Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture''
edited by Edward Lawrence Davis. Routledge, p. 340. . ) is a Chinese film director and screenwriter. A graduate of 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 ...

, He is considered a leading voice in the so-called " Sixth Generation."Zhang, Yingjin & Xiao, Zhiwei (1998). ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Film''. Taylor & Francis, p. 184. . He is occasionally credited under the name "He Yi."

Career

He Jianjun began his film career like many of his contemporaries at the

, China's premiere

film school A film school is an educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training ...

. Upon graduating in 1990, he began an apprenticeship with some of the Fifth Generation's major figures, notably Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Tian Zhuangzhuang. He would serve as the assistant director in Zhang's ''

Raise the Red Lantern ''Raise the Red Lantern'' is a 1991 film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. It is an adaptation by of the 1990 novella '' Raise the Red Lantern'' (originally ''Wives and Concubines'') by Su Tong. The film was later adapted into an ...

'' (1992) and Tian's ''

The Blue Kite ''The Blue Kite'' () is a 1993 drama film directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang. Though banned by the Chinese government upon its completion (along with a ten-year ban on filmmaking imposed on Tian), the film soon found a receptive international audienc ...

'', as well as a screenwriter for Chen Kaige's '' King of the Children'' (1987), before his debut film, '' Red Beads'', was released in 1993 to strong reviews in the west. Filmed in only twelve days, ''Red Beads'' was based on the experiences of one of He's classmates, who had a psychotic break. While ''Red Beads'' would win a

FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

award in the 1993

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

, the film also caught the wrath of Chinese censors, who blacklisted He Jianjun in 1994 along with several other prominent filmmakers, including

Tian Zhuangzhuang Tian Zhuangzhuang (; born April 1952 in Beijing) is a Chinese film director, producer and actor. Tian was born to an influential actor and actress in China. Following a short stint in the military, Tian began his artistic career first as an ama ...

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 ...

Wu Wenguang Wu Wenguang 吴文光 (born 1956 in Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the p ...

, Zhang Yuan, and Ning Dai. Because of the blacklisting, He Jianjun had to smuggle out his next film, ''

Postman A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

'' for post-production.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
He Jianjun
at the Chinese Movie Database {{DEFAULTSORT:He, Jianjun 1960 births Living people Beijing Film Academy alumni Film directors from Beijing Screenwriters from Beijing