Contents
Zhang Yimou
Directing Raise the Red Lantern, To Live and Hero with striking colour and visual composition.
Raise the Red Lantern · To Live
- Born
- 2 April 1950
- Birthplace
- Xi’an, China
More people
Zhang Yimou
Zhang Yimou moved from photography and cinematography into directing. His films range from intimate stories of ordinary people to large-scale historical spectacle.
Early life
Interrupted education
Worked on a farm and in a textile mill during the Cultural Revolution.
Photography
Developed an interest in photography before entering the Beijing Film Academy in 1978.
Career
- 1982
Cinematography
Graduated and began working at Guangxi Film Studio.
- 1987–1988
Directing breakthrough
Made Red Sorghum, which won Berlin’s Golden Bear in 1988.
- 1990s
International recognition
Directed dramas recognised at major European festivals.
- 2000s onward
Larger productions
Expanded into martial-arts epics and large live spectacles.
Selected work
Raise the Red Lantern
A new concubine enters a household governed by ritual and competition.
To Live
A family endures decades of upheaval in China.
Hero
Conflicting accounts of an assassination plot unfold through changing colours.
Beyond work
Olympic ceremonies
Directed ceremonies for the Beijing Summer Games in 2008 and Winter Games in 2022.
Live productions
Worked on outdoor Impression performances combining landscape and theatre.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Cannes: filmmaker biography ↗Birth date: memoir and family birthday reporting ↗Photo: Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan. CC BY 2.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}