He Jianjun (; born 1960 in Beijing
[Barbieri, Maria (2005). "He Jianjun" i]
''Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture''
edited by Edward Lawrence Davis. Routledge, p. 340. . ) is a Chinese film director and screenwriter. A graduate of the
Beijing Film Academy, He is considered a leading voice in the so-called "
Sixth Generation."
[Zhang, Yingjin & Xiao, Zhiwei (1998). ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Film''. Taylor & Francis, p. 184. .] He is occasionally credited under the name "He Yi."
[
]
Career
He Jianjun began his film career like many of his contemporaries at the Beijing Film Academy, China's premiere film school
A film school is an educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are ...
. Upon graduating in 1990, he began an apprenticeship with some of the Fifth Generation's major figures, notably Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Tian Zhuangzhuang. He would serve as the assistant director in Zhang's ''Raise the Red Lantern
''Raise the Red Lantern'' is a 1991 period drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. It is an adaptation by of the 1990 novella '' Raise the Red Lantern'' (originally ''Wives and Concubines'') by Su Tong. A Chinese-Hong Kong c ...
'' (1992) and Tian's '' The Blue Kite'', as well as a screenwriter for Chen Kaige's '' King of the Children'' (1987), before his debut film, '' Red Beads'', was released in 1993 to strong reviews in the west. Filmed in only twelve days, ''Red Beads'' was based on the experiences of one of He's classmates, who had a psychotic break.[
While ''Red Beads'' would win a ]FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the wor ...
award in the 1993 International Film Festival Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...
, the film also caught the wrath of Chinese censors, who blacklisted He Jianjun in 1994 along with several other prominent filmmakers, including Tian Zhuangzhuang
Tian Zhuangzhuang (; born April 1952 in Beijing) is a Chinese film director, producer and actor.
Tian was born to an influential actor and actress in China. Following a short stint in the military, Tian began his artistic career first as an am ...
, Wang Xiaoshuai
Wang Xiaoshuai (; born May 22, 1966) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter, and occasional actor. He is commonly grouped under the loose association of filmmakers known as the "Sixth Generation" of the Cinema of China. Like others in this gen ...
, Wu Wenguang
Wu Wenguang 吴文光 (born 1956 in Yunnan) is a Chinese independent documentary
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, educ ...
, Zhang Yuan, and Ning Dai.
Because of the blacklisting, He Jianjun had to smuggle out his next film, ''Postman
A mail carrier, also referred to as a mailman, mailwoman, mailperson, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, postperson, person of post, letter carrier (in American English), or colloquially postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Unite ...
'' for post-production.
Filmography
References
External links
*
He Jianjun
at the Chinese Movie Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:He, Jianjun
1960 births
Living people
Beijing Film Academy alumni
Film directors from Beijing
Screenwriters from Beijing