Gu Changwei (born 12 December 1957) is a Chinese

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. Gu was born in

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Career

Gu Changwei began his cinematic career in the now legendary 1982 class of the Beijing Film Academy, today known as the Fifth Generation. Trained as a cinematographer, Gu was assigned to the Xi'an Film Studio after graduation where he served as a primary collaborator with classmates Chen Kaige and

Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 14 November 1950) is a Chinese filmmaker.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retrieved 21 August 2008. A leading figure of China's Cinem ...

on their early films, notably '' King of the Children'' (for Chen Kaige) and '' Red Sorghum'' (for

), both in 1987.Zhang, Yingjin & Xiao, Zhiwei (1998). "Gu Changwei" in ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Film''. Taylor & Francis, p. 181. . Since then, Gu has worked with both men on multiple occasions, including on Chen's magnum opus, 1993's '' Farewell My Concubine''. Like fellow cinematographer Zhao Fei, Gu has had the opportunity to work with major American directors as well, with Tony Drazan, in his filmed adaptation of Hurlyburly and most notably with

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...

, on his film '' The Gingerbread Man'' (1997).

Directing

Beginning in 2005, Gu Changwei branched out into film direction with his debut ''

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

'', a three-hour-long epic about a small family in the 1970s and 1980s. The film was well received and won the Jury Grand Prix-Silver Bear at the 2005

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

. His sophomore feature, '' And the Spring Comes'', was released in 2007.

Filmography

As cinematographer

As film director

References

External links

*
Gu Changwei
at the Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers

Chinese cinematographers Film directors from Shaanxi Artists from Xi'an Beijing Film Academy alumni 1957 births Living people {{China-film-director-stub Chinese film directors