Wei Shujun

Wei Shujun ( zh, c=魏书钧, p=Wèi Shūjūn, born 5 February 1991) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter and actor based in Beijing. He is best known for his feature films '' Only the River Flows'' (2023) and '' Striding Into the Wind'' (2020). His short film ''On the Border'' (2018) won the Mention Spéciale at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

Early life and education

Wei was born in Beijing on 5 February 1980. He started his career in film at the age of fourteen, as a child actor. Wei is a fan of hip-hop and considered a career as a professional musician when he was in his twenties. Wei went on to study sound recording at the Communication University of China. At university he watched lots of movies and became more and more interested in making films.

Career

Wei directed his first film ''Duck Neck'' (浮世千) in 2016. Two years later Wei followed it up with a short film, 2018's ''On the Border'' (延边少年), which was awarded the Special Mention at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

Wei's debut feature film '' Striding Into the Wind'' (野马分鬃) was released in 2020 and set to premiere at the canceled 73rd Cannes Film Festival. It follows two skeptical misfit sound recording students on a roadtrip to Inner Mongolia where they intend to film a movie. In a 2022 interview Wei revealed that the main characters were largely based on his own experience at film school, which he and his co-writer Gao Linyang went to together.

The following year Wei's sophomore feature film ''Ripples of Life'' (永安镇故事集) was screened at the 2021 Directors' Fortnight. The movie captures the process of filmmaking in the Chinese indie industry, following different members of a film crew preparing for production. The movie is split into three "novels", each taking on a different set of perspectives. The movie's co-writer Kang Chunlei says the following about the theme of the movie: "We hope to explore the stagnation of life and its impact on each individual" and explains the title of it by saying "Big events in people's lives are like throwing a pebble into the water. Although ripples immediately appear on the surface, it quickly returns to calmness." Kang and producer Huang Xuefeng played the part of the screenwriter and producer respectively.

In 2023 Wei's new film '' Only the River Flows'' (河边的错误) became a surprise box office hit in China. An adaptation of Yu Hua's barely known 1987 novella ''Mistakes By The River'' (河边的错误), it marks the second collaboration with Kang as co-screenwriter. The story follows Detective Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong) investigating a series of murders in a rural town in Chongqing municipality. What starts as an open-and-shut case soon spirals out of control and threatens to take Detective Ma's sanity with it. Although it is Wei's first feature film not to center on disillusioned young filmmakers, it doesn't do away with the theme altogether, instead opting for meta-commentary on alienation and drawing parallels between the professions of film and police. The movie, which was shot by cinematographer Chengma Zhiyuan almost exclusively using 16 mm film, is a period piece of the 1990s. Only the nightmares of the main character are shot digitally. It has been compared to other Asian neo-noir films such as ''Memories of Murder'' by Bong Joon Ho, ''Cure'' by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and ''Decision to Leave'' by Park Chan-wook as well as Chinese thriller ''Black Coal, Thin Ice'' by Diao Yinan. ''Only the River Flows'' screened as part of the ''Un Certain Regard'' competition at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, marking it the third film by Wei to be picked up by the festival.

In a 2024 Interview Wei announced work on an upcoming 12-episode TV series executive produced by Diao Yinan. , no additional information about the progress or title of the show has been released.

2024 saw the release of ''Mostly Sunny'' (阳光俱乐部), a family drama starring Huang Xiaoming and Zu Feng as brothers dealing in radically different ways with their mother's cancer diagnosis. The film additionally features fellow film director Jia Zhangke in a supporting role. Not unlike ''Only the River Flows'', ''Mostly Sunny'' explores the limits of rationality. After Wei's arthouse success, he has commented on the more commercial context that ''Mostly Sunny'' was produced under, further saying "I have a responsibility for the money and to the industry. Arthouse films in China usually don't do well financially. So if you fail, it's even more difficult to find money for your next film." The movie was co-written by former collaborator Yixiang Zhai and shot by Chengma.

''I Dreamed a Dream'' is a 2025 docu-fiction film following a group of young men with ambitions to become famous rappers as they take part in a mysterious film shoot led by an absent genius director. Slowly the men are each succumbing to a series of unnerving dreams. The film's cast notably includes Dylan Wang as well as frequent collaborator Tong Linkai, among others. It also marks yet another collaboration with cinematographer Chengma Zhiyuan. The movie premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Wei's upcoming film, ''Mr. Crane Is Back!'' (白鹤亮翅), has been in production since at least 2022.

Themes and influences

Wei's films oftentimes meditate on the process of filmmaking and the uncomfortable realities of the industry. Other themes that his work tackles include empirical rationality and its limits.

In a 2023 interview for Metrograph Wei stressed the importance of collaborating with different people on the screenplays of his movies.

Wei has mentioned Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien as an influence on his creative style.

Critical reception

A "rave review" of ''Only the River Flows'' written by Jessica Kiang for ''Variety'' especially highlighted Chengma's cinematography and complimented the deliberately confusing nature of the movie as well as its "pitch-black" sense of humour. Ding Rui, writing for ''Sixth Tone'', goes further to connect the open-endedness of the narrative to its domestic box office success. She writes "''Only the River Flows'' encourages audiences to draw their own conclusions, helping fuel widespread debates on social media", as well as including a Douban comment calling the movie a "psychological experiment".

In an interview with French film website ''Cinematraque'' Wei was compared to other young Chinese film directors such as Gu Xiaogang and Bi Gan. When asked about that connection he said that he hopes their generation can leave a mark on cinema.

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

Awards and nominations

Further reading

2023 Interview for Metrograph

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Shujun
1991 births
Living people
Chinese film directors
Film directors from Beijing
Screenwriters from Beijing