He Qun (; 7 December 1955 – 31 December 2016) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

filmmaker. A graduate of the 1982 class 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 was an inaugural member of China's "Fifth Generation" movement.Zhang, Yingjin & Xiao, Zhiwei (1998). "The Fifth Generation" i
''Encyclopedia of Chinese Film''
Taylor & Francis, p. 164. .

Early life

He was born in 1955 in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

. Like many of his generation, his early life was thrown into turmoil by the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. His father, an artist, was denounced as a rightist, and He was sent to the outskirts of Beijing where he did manual labor as a welder for six years. In 1978, He was admitted to the

in its art department, and was assigned to the Guangxi Film Studio when he graduated in 1982.

Career

He's early career was as an

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

, where he worked on many important films of the early Fifth Generation movement, including ''

The Big Parade ''The Big Parade'' is a 1925 American silent war drama film directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth, Tom O'Brien, and Karl Dane. Written by World War I veteran, Laurence Stallings, the film is about an ...

'' (1986, directed by

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 ...

) and '' Widow Village'' (1988, directed by Wang Jin). In 1988, he began his career in direction with the war film ''

Mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...

''. Since then, he has directed films of several genres, including gangster films (''Westbound Convict Train'', 1989), comedies (''Once Conned'', 1992) and mysteries (''The Vanished Woman'' (1992). In 1993, He found critical success with his rural drama '' Country Teachers'', which won the

Golden Rooster Award The Golden Rooster Awards () are film awards given in mainland China. The awards were originally given annually, beginning in 1981. The name of the award came from the year of the Rooster in 1981. Award recipients receive a statuette in the shap ...

for best picture.

Selected filmography

As art director

As director

As actor

References

External links

*
He Qun
at the Chinese Movie Database 1956 births 2016 deaths Film directors from Jiangsu Art directors Beijing Film Academy alumni Chinese film directors {{China-film-director-stub