Liu Jiayin (born 20 August 1981) is a Chinese independent filmmaker and educator from

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. She directed two experimental features combining

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

and narrative elements, ''

Oxhide ''Oxhide'' ( zh, c=牛皮, p=niú pí), directed by Liu Jiayin, is a 2005 narrative independent Chinese film that portrays the director's family and their apartment in Beijing. Liu was 23 years old when the film was recorded. Awards, nominations, ...

'' (2005) and ''

Oxhide II ''Oxhide II'' () is a 2009 Independent film, independent Cinema of China, Chinese film by Liu Jiayin. It is a sequel to ''Oxhide'' (2005), Liu's directorial debut. Like the first film, ''Oxhide II'' portrays the director and her family as they go a ...

'' (2009), both of which received international awards. Liu was called "one of the most exciting and unique talents to emerge from China in the 2000s" by ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', with ''Oxhide'' being described in 2006 as "the most important Chinese film of the past several years". She has written television dramas and currently teaches screenwriting at the

Beijing Film Academy Beijing Film Academy (BFA; zh, first=s, s=北京电影学院, labels=no) is a municipal public college in Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the City of Beijing and co-funded by the Beijing Municipal People's Government, the National Radio ...

Career

Liu aspired to become a filmmaker as early as high school. In 1999, she enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy, majoring in screenwriting. As her graduation project for her master's degree, she completed ''Oxhide'', her full-length feature debut. Liu used

digital video Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data. This is in contrast to analog video, which represents moving visual images in the form of analog signals. Digital video comprises ...

and a series of

long take In filmmaking, a long take (also called a continuous take, continuous shot, or oner) is Shot (filmmaking), shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. Significant camera mov ...

s to stage scenes from the life of her family in their cramped Beijing apartment. Her mother and her fathera struggling skilled leather craftsman whose work material gives the film its titleperform their own parts, alongside the 23-year-old director as herself. ''Oxhide'' screened at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize and Caligari Film Prize. It also screened at the

Hong Kong International Film Festival The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) is one of Asia's oldest international film festivals. Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies and filmmakers from different countries, and takes place in Hong Kong. HKIFF screens ...

, where Liu received the Golden DV Award for best digital work, and at the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...

, where she received the top

Dragons and Tigers Award VIFF Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema was an award from the Vancouver International Film Festival for a film director from the Asia-Pacific region. Presented to a film judged as the best film by an emerging director within the festival's D ...

for East Asian cinema. In 2009 Liu finished her second film, ''Oxhide II''. With a similar focus on her family, this "sequel" was seen as more simple in construction, employing only nine separate shots in a running time of over two hours. All the film's narrative occurs in the real-time process of Liu and her family preparing to make, making, cooking and eating ''

jiaozi ''Jiaozi'' or Gyoza (; ) are a type of Chinese dumpling. ''Jiaozi'' typically consist of a ground meat or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together. ''Jiaozi'' can be ...

'' (Chinese dumplings). A marked contrast not only to commercial film aesthetics but also with other independent films from China, ''Oxhide II'' premiered at the 2009

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

as part of its Directors Fortnight program. At the end of the year, ''Oxhide II'' was named one of the three masterpieces of

Chinese cinema The cinema of China is the filmmaking and film industry of mainland China, one of three distinct historical threads of Chinese-language cinema together with the cinema of Hong Kong and the cinema of Taiwan. China is the home of the largest m ...

in the 2000s by critic

Shelly Kraicer Shelly or Shelli may refer to: Places * Şelli (or Shelly/Shelli), village in Azerbaijan * Shelly Bay, a bay in New Zealand * Shelly Beach (disambiguation) * Shelly, Minnesota, a small city in the United States * Shelly Park, a suburb in A ...

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Jiayin 1981 births Living people Film directors from Beijing Beijing Film Academy alumni