Born: 1951 (1950?), Xi'an.
His mother was a dermatologist, his father could not find work due to being effectively politically blacklisted (he had been an officer in the KMT army before 1949). During the Cultural Revolution, in 1969, he was sent to a village north of Xi'an, working as a farmer. He was later transferred to a cotton mill 40 km from Xi'an, in the small city of Xianyang, and whilst there he took up photography and painting. One famous anecdote tells of his managing to save enough money to buy his first camera by donating blood.
His application in 1978 to the Beijing Film Academy was initially rejected due to his being over the age limit, but this was overturned after pleas to the Academy's heads and the Minister of Culture. He was allowed in despite his age, considering his evident photographic ability and strong entrance-exam results.
After graduation in 1982, he was sent off to the small, regional-outpost studio Guangxi Film Studio. There, his talents as cinematographer would shine in the films The One and the Eight, Yellow Earth and The Big Parade.
Later on, in 1985, he would move back to his home town of Xi'an, 'on loan' to the Xi'an Film Studio, under the leadership of the influential mentor-like producer/director Wu Tianming. There, he would show off more of his versatility, by acting the lead part in Wu's film The Old Well, for which he'd win a Best Actor award at Tokyo Film Festival. Still at Xi'an Film Studio, he would try his own hand at directing, and made his first three films there: Red Sorghum, Codename Puma (aka Codename Cougar, an action film obviously in part prescribed by box-office pressures) and Ju Dou.
His visual style is characterised by vivid use of colours and colour-coding for symbolic purposes within segments of the same film; by striking framing compositions and by frequently immobile camera shots. It seems easy to connect these to his early sensibilities as a still photographer. The versatility of his visual style can be seen for example, by the difference between the highly stylised sets and colour compositions of Raise the Red Lantern, and the far more neo-realist feel and unadorned depiction of rural China in The Story of Qiu Ju.
Filmography (as director):
- Red Sorghum (1987)
- Codename Cougar (1988)
- Ju Dou (1989)
- Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
- The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)
Resources:
"Zhang Yimou: Local Hero" --- Stuart Klawans, Film Comment, Sep-Oct 1995.
http://www.chinesefilms.cn/141/2011/12/21/201s6386.htm
http://www.clockwatching.net/~vroom/zyimou.html
http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6561
http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/zhang/
Profile in Perspectives on Chinese Cinema, 201.
Cardullo, Essay and Interview in Out of Asia, 111.
http://offscreen.com/view/hou_yong
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