Was born into a film family, much like Tian Zhuangzhuang. His father, Chen Huaikai, had made his name at Beijing Film Studio making Chinese opera films, and his mother worked as a script editor. In 1966, his high school education was cut short by the start of the Cultural Revolution. In 1968, he was sent, along with schoolmates, to Yunnan province (South-west) as a zhiqing. There, he worked in a rubber plantation for three-five(?) years, a formative experience that would shape his outlook on life and open his eyes to the discrepancies between ideology he had been taught and reality. He also joined the army, leaving his plantation job but staying in Yunnan, and served patrolling the border with Vietnam (still some years before the Sino-Vietnamese border war of 1979). In 1973, he moved back to Beijing where he ended up working in a factory(?).
In 1975, he found work in a film processing laboratory in Beijing. In 1978 he applied to the Beijing Film Academy and was accepted.
After graduating, he initially worked as assistant to older director Huang Jianzhong at Beijing Film Studio, working on two films under him (interestingly Huang's later films were themselves more experimental, perhaps indicating some influence from the spirit of innovation of the younger director and his peers at the time).
In 1984, following the success of his fellow BFA graduates Zhang Yimou, He Qun and Zhang Junzhao in making The One and the Eight at Guangxi Film Studio, he applied to be relocated to join them at Guangxi.Once there, in collaboration with Zhang Yimou and He, Chen directed Yellow Earth and The Big Parade. The latter film was involved in a dispute with the authorities over censorship and final cut, which probably led Chen to agree to sign up to make a film for Wu Tianming at Xi'an Film Studio. This would end up being King of the Children.
In 1988, he took up a fellowship at New York University and stayed there through 1989, making a Duran Duran music video in an attempt to raise funds for future projects he had planned.
Filmography:
- Yellow Earth (1984)
- The Big Parade (1986)
- King of the Children (1987)
- Life on a String (1991)
- Farewell My Concubine (1993)
References:
http://filmmakermagazine.com/72318-the-studios-are-dead-chen-kaige-on-chinas-new-filmmaking-machine/#.VAJrLPldXqk
Profile in Perspectives on Chinese Cinema, 188.
Profile in Perspectives on Chinese Cinema, 188.
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