Cao Yu (; born August 15, 1974) is a Chinese

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

best known for his work on ''

City of Life and Death ''City of Life and Death'' is a 2009 Chinese drama film written and directed by Lu Chuan, marking his third feature film. The film deals with the Battle of Nanjing and the following massacre committed by the Japanese army during the Second World W ...

'', '' Kekexili: Mountain Patrol'' and '' See You Tomorrow''. As a cinematographer, he became famous for his three collaborations with director

Lu Chuan Lu Chuan (born 8 February 1971) is a Chinese filmmaker, screenwriter and producer. He is the son of novelist Lu Tianming (). Education Educated at the in Nanjing, Lu spent two years serving in the Army as a secretary to a general. After his time ...

Early life and education

Cao was born on August 15, 1974, in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. After graduating from

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 1997, he was assigned to Beijing Film Studio. When he was a college student, his greatest interest was to study equipment and Library. ''

American Cinematographer ''American Cinematographer'' is a magazine published monthly by the American Society of Cinematographers. It focuses on the art and craft of cinematography, covering domestic and foreign feature productions, television productions, short films, mu ...

'' is the most popular magazine he has borrowed from the university library. When he saw an article that he was interested in, he would copy it.

Career

Cao made his feature film debut with the 1997 comedy film ''Run Away'', which earned him a Youth Film Fund award at the 54th Cannes Film Festival. In 2001, he shot the feature film ''Chicken Poets'', and won a Special Jury Prize at the

Locarno Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, s ...

. That same year, he began to shot

advertisement film A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

s. In 2004, he shot Lu Chuan's '' Kekexili: Mountain Patrol'', for which he received the Best Cinematography nomination at the 25th Golden Rooster Awards and received the Best Cinematography at the 41st Golden Horse Awards. In 2009, Cao went on to serve as cinematographer for ''

'', his second collaboration with director

. He won numerous awards, including the Best Cinematography at the 57th San Sebastian International Film Festival, the Best Cinematography at the

46th Golden Horse Awards The 46th Golden Horse Awards was held on November 28, 2009. Nominations and winners Complete list of nominees and winners Best Feature Film Best Short Film Best Documentary Best Animation (Absentee) Best Director Best Leading Actor ...

, the Best Cinematography at the 4th

Asian Film Awards Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and the Best Cinematography at the

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...

. Cao was cinematographer for the 2010

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film ''Color Me Love''. In 2012, he collaborated with Yang Shupeng on the

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

An Inaccurate Memoir ''An Inaccurate Memoir'' (), also known as ''Eastern Bandits'', is a 2012 Chinese thriller film directed by Yang Shupeng. Plot Gao, a Chinese soldier and a bandit member, seeks revenge from the Japanese with the help of bandits. Cast * Huang Xi ...

''. In 2015, he was selected as cinematographer for the 3D adventure action film ''

Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe ''Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe'' () is a 2015 Chinese 3D adventure action film directed and co-written by Lu Chuan, and stars Mark Chao, Yao Chen, Rhydian Vaughan, Li Chen, Tiffany Tang and Daniel Feng. The film is an adaptation of Zhang Muye' ...

'', his third collaborated with director Lu Chuan. In 2017, Cao won the Best Cinematography at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards for his work in '' See You Tomorrow'', and was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 54th Golden Horse Awards.

Personal life

In March 2011, Cao Yu began dating actress

Yao Chen Yao Chen (, born 5 October 1979) is a Chinese actress and philanthropist. In 2014, ''Time'' named Yao as one of the most influential people on their ''Time 100'' list. As of 2014, she is listed as the 83rd most powerful woman in the world by '' ...

after they met in ''Color Me Love''. On November 18, 2012, they married in

Queenstown, New Zealand Queenstown ( mi, Tāhuna) is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It has an urban population of The town is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long, thin, Z-shaped lake formed by ...

. On July 15, 2013, their son, nicknamed Xiao Tudou (), was born in Beijing. Their daughter, nicknamed Xiao Moli (), was born on November 9, 2016.

Film

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cao, Yu 1974 births Artists from Beijing Living people Beijing Film Academy alumni Chinese cinematographers