1. Jia Zhangke is a Chinese film and television director, screenwriter, producer, actor and writer.
21 Facts About Jia Zhangke
1. 2.
Jia Zhangke is the founder of Pingyao International Film Festival, dean of the Shanxi Film Academy of Shanxi Media College and the dean of the Shanghai Vancouver Film School at Shanghai University.
3.
Jia Zhangke graduated from the Literature Department of Beijing Film Academy.
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Jia Zhangke is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai, Lou Ye, Wang Quan'an and Zhang Yuan.
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Jia Zhangke's films have received critical praise and have been recognized internationally, notably winning the Venice Film Festival's top award Golden Lion for Still Life.
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Jia Zhangke received the Leopard of Honour at the Locarno Film Festival in 2010, the Carrosse d'Or lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015, and an honorary award at the Visions du Reel in 2024.
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The film, according to Jia Zhangke, was life changing, and convinced the young man that he wanted to be a director.
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For Jia Zhangke, the film was an important learning experience, even if he was "not terribly proud" of the end result.
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Additionally, the film was a rejection of what Jia Zhangke felt was the fifth generation's increasing tendency to move away from the reality of modern China and into the realm of historical legend.
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Jia Zhangke capitalized on his success with Xiao Wu with a two internationally acclaimed independent features.
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The first, Platform, was partially funded in 1998 through the Pusan Promotion Plan of the Busan International Film Festival when Jia Zhangke received the Hubert Bals Fund Award for his project.
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In 2006, Jia Zhangke returned to his experimentation with digital film with his film Still Life.
13.
Originally planned to be released in 2007, production on The Age of Tattoo was delayed after lead Jay Chou pulled out of the project, with Jia Zhangke moving on to other films.
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In October 2017, Jia Zhangke announced the establishment of the Pingyao International Film Festival in Shanxi.
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Jia Zhangke's work speaks to a vision of "authentic" Chinese life, and his consistent return to the themes of alienation and disorientation fly in the face of the work of older filmmakers who present more idealized understandings of Chinese society.
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Jia Zhangke argues that the longshot is "democratic" as the viewer is able to freely navigate the screen and is not ordered by zooms, cuts and close-ups.
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Jia Zhangke has commented in the past on the influence of filmmakers Hou Hsiao-hsien and Yasujiro Ozu on his work.
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Jia Zhangke deeply affected by Robert Bresson's use of nonprofessional actors.
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In 2011, Jia Zhangke criticised Chinese film censorship at a cultural forum in Shanghai, and described it as "cultural over-cleanliness".
20.
When China's National Radio and Television Administration in 2021 published guidelines that limited actors with the "wrong" politics, morals, or aesthetics, while TV show hosts would need to be licensed by authorities, Jia Zhangke spoke out against the proposed regulation, and said art creation should be "eclectic".
21.
In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Jia Zhangke signed an open letter published in Liberation demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.