Vivian Qu
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Vivian Qu (; Wen Yan) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter and producer who directed the award-winning 2013 film ''
Trap Street In cartography, a trap street is a fictitious entry in the form of a misrepresented street on a map, often outside the area the map nominally covers, for the purpose of "trapping" potential plagiarists of the map who, if caught, would be unable t ...
''. She also produced '' Night Train'', released in 2007, ''
Knitting Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...
'', in 2008 and '' Black Coal, Thin Ice'' in 2014, which won that year's
Golden Bear Award Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...
at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2017, her second directing feature '' Angels Wear White'' was entered into the main competition section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival and later won her a Golden Horse Award for Best Director in Taiwan.


Early life and education

Qu was born and brought up in Beijing, China. She went to the United States in the 1990s and studied art history and fine arts in New York City. She says that the subject of cinema combined all her interests, in "writing, photography, music... together in one art form".


Life and career

In 2003, Qu returned to Beijing, in order to become a film producer, and to pursue her interest in helping independent filmmakers. She says that she became aware that whilst filmmakers in China have good ideas and scripts, they lack the resources to produce or market their films for an international audience. In 2007, she began producing films in collaboration with Chinese film director
Diao Yi'Nan Diao Yinan (; born 1969 in Xi'an, Shaanxi) is a Chinese director, screenwriter and occasional actor. He won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival for the widely acclaimed Chinese neo-noir film ''Black Coal, Th ...
, and first produced '' Night Train'', the story of a young, widowed prison guard who takes a night train to a dating service, as she feels lonely and isolated. The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. The following year, she produced the film ''
Knitting Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...
'', a romantic drama told from a female perspective and based on the Chinese myth of the cowherd and the weaver girl, as told in the Qixi Festival. In 2013, she produced ''Longing for the Rain'', the story of a woman living in a loveless marriage until a man appears in her dreams, and with whom she finds she cannot live without. As Qu was working creatively with film directors in her role as film producer, she also decided to try to direct. Her debut feature as director, ''
Trap Street In cartography, a trap street is a fictitious entry in the form of a misrepresented street on a map, often outside the area the map nominally covers, for the purpose of "trapping" potential plagiarists of the map who, if caught, would be unable t ...
'', made in 2013, tells the story of a young digital map-maker who finds his computerised maps have been mysteriously altered after he becomes infatuated with a young woman working for China's intelligence service, in a street which does not officially exist. Qu says that the film reflects a changing reality in modern China, in which people have started to notice "little things that are happening", such as "the Internet and text messages being censored all the time", with social media services such as '' Facebook'' routinely inaccessible. She also says that people are detained by the authorities for apparently minor infractions, such as keying in particular words on search engines. However, she says that, despite such perceptions, for most of the younger generation in China, who did not live through such periods as the '' Cultural Revolution'', "this is something completely new", and that they don't understand why it is happening. She says that, for her, "this
rend Rend may refer to: * Rend, Iran * Rend River * Rend Lake Rend Lake is a long, wide reservoir located in Southern Illinois in Franklin and Jefferson Counties near the town of Benton. It contains 18,900 acres (76 km2) of water, stores of ...
is very disturbing... but we're not taking it seriously".


Filmography


As Scriptwriter

* 2004
Letter From an Unknown Woman ''Letter from an Unknown Woman'' (german: Brief einer Unbekannten) is a novella by Stefan Zweig. Published in 1922, it tells the story of an author who, while reading a letter written by a woman he does not remember, gets glimpses into her lif ...
*2013 ''
Trap Street In cartography, a trap street is a fictitious entry in the form of a misrepresented street on a map, often outside the area the map nominally covers, for the purpose of "trapping" potential plagiarists of the map who, if caught, would be unable t ...
''


As director

* 2017 '' Angels Wear White'' * 2013 ''
Trap Street In cartography, a trap street is a fictitious entry in the form of a misrepresented street on a map, often outside the area the map nominally covers, for the purpose of "trapping" potential plagiarists of the map who, if caught, would be unable t ...
''


As producer

* 2014 '' Black Coal, Thin Ice'' * 2013 ''Longing for the Rain'' * 2008 ''
Knitting Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...
'' * 2007 '' Night Train''


Awards


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Qu, Vivian Screenwriters from Beijing Chinese women film directors Film directors from Beijing Living people Chinese women film producers Year of birth missing (living people)