Zhang Yimou Case

ZHANG YIMOU

(1952-)

Zhang Yimou belonged to the 5th generation of film-makers graduating from the Beijing Film Academy.His childhood was spent witnessing the cultural revolution.Son to a Kuomintang party member and Doctor -mother qualified his status as a politically debatable one and he was forced to cease studyng and was send to work in a farm for seven years and then worked as a labourer in a cotton textile mill.During this period he found solace in photography and also sold his blood to buy his first camera.

When the Beijing film academy re-opened in 1978,Zhang went to study at the academy at the age of 27,but not without hiccups as he was exceeding the requisite age limit and so he had to write a personal appeal to the Ministry of culture alluding to his "10 years lost during the cultural revolution",and also sent a portfolio of his photographic works. Finally,he could gain entry to the coveted institute though not in his desired department,direction but in cinematography.

He graduated from the Academy in 1982 ,shortly after that he was sent work in the Guangxi Film studio in Nanning which was an isolated south-western city and did not have experienced technicians.

The young film-makers who graduated from the Academy wanted to do something different from the existing run-of-the-mill socialist - realist cinema .In their pursuit to stand apart they started questioning their history.In movies like One and Eight(1984) and Yellow Earth(1984),his films as cinematographer , he designed the movie in dark,asymmetrical while most of the socialist-realist movies of that time were of a glossy and bright format.His work in Yellow Earth was widely appreciated mostly because his and his fellow classmates works dared to question the conventionally accepted mode of film-making.He made his directoral debut with the' Red Sorghum'(1987),it was a boisterous and lusty film and drew a large audience.It was both critically acclaimed and popular and brought him international fame and recognition.It won the Golden Bear at the 1988 Berlin film festival.Its rich, earthy ,visual style became his signature style and was the background for his forthcoming movies.His next movie Codename Cougar was an experimental movie in the political -thriller genre but failed to impress the audience and the critics alike and Yimou himself dismissed as his worst film.His next film Judou was a tragedy which showed the patriarchial system prevalent in China.shot in Technicolour,a process that has long been abandoned ,it was Yimou's unique use of colours and lush cinematography that brought many a accolade to this film,It was also the first Chinese film to be nominated for an Academy award