Guangxi Film Studio (Industry)

Located in Nanning, Guangxi province, in the south of China, bordering Vietnam. It was founded in 1974. A key production studio and learning ground for the emergence of the Fifth Generation, notably in part due to its geographical distance from the central regions and powers, as well as the fact it was understaffed and desperate to get productions completed. Thus, such a small distant studio allocated more freedoms to the young directors.

The head of the studio at this period was Guo Baochang, himself a director. He would go on to act in Tian Zhuangzhuang's The Blue Kite.

Three '5th Generation' Beijing Film Academy graduates were sent there together shortly after graduation - Zhang Yimou, Zhang Junzhao and art designer He Qun. Together they formed a 'Youth Film Unit' and soon made The One and the Eight. Following this success, other regional studios followed suits in forming youth production units of their own, for example the Pearl River Studio in Guangzhou. Eventually even the larger studios began giving younger recruits the chance to direct films themselves.
In 1983, Zhang Yimou and He Qun would invite their former BFA classmate Chen Kaige to join them at Guangxi, in order to collaborate with them and benefit from greater freedom. Chen eagerly accepted the invitation, and after being granted permission to make the move, he would famously go on to make Yellow Earth together with Zhang Yimou in 1984.