Tian Zhuangzhuang

The class of 1982 collectively would soon gain fame as the so-called Fifth Generation film movement, with Tian Zhuangzhuang as one of the movement's key figures. Tian's early career was marked both with avant-garde documentary infused films (On the Hunting Ground (1985), The Horse Thief (1986)) to more commercial fare (Li Lianying: The Imperial Eunuch (1991)). In 1991, Tian began work on a quiet epic about one of modern China's darkest moments. This film, The Blue Kite (1993), would eventually result in Tian's nearly decade long exile from the film industry, an exile he returned from with Springtime in a Small Town (2001). Throughout the 2000s, Tian Zhuangzhuang returned to the fore of Chinese cinema, directing films like the biopic The Go Master (2006) and the historical action film The Warrior and the Wolf (2009). Since his banning after the release of The Blue Kite, Tian has also emerged as a mentor for some of China's newest film talents, and he has helped produce several important films for these new generations of directors.

• Name — Tian Zhuangzhuang • Born — 23 April 1952 • Birthplace — Beijing, China • Education — Beijing Film Academy • Occupation — Film director, producer, actor and professor at Beijing Film Academy • Years Active — 1980–present • Parents — Tian Fang (father) Yu Lan (mother) • Awards — Tokyo Grand Prix 1993 The Blue Kite San Marco Prize 2002 Springtime in a Small Town Jin Jue for Best Director 2007 The Go Master 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 amateur photographer and then as an assistant cinematographer at the Beijing Agricultural Film Studio. In 1978, he was accepted to the Beijing Film Academy, from which he graduated in 1982, together with classmates Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. The class of 1982 collectively would soon gain fame as the so-called Fifth Generation film movement, with Tian Zhuangzhuang as one of the movement's key figures. Tian's early career was marked both with avant-garde documentary infused films (On the Hunting Ground (1985), The Horse Thief (1986)) to more commercial fare (Li Lianying: The Imperial Eunuch (1991)). In 1991, Tian began work on a quiet epic about one of modern China's darkest moments. This film, The Blue Kite (1993), would eventually result in Tian's nearly decade long exile from the film industry, an exile he returned from with Springtime in a Small Town (2001). Throughout the 2000s, Tian Zhuangzhuang returned to the fore of Chinese cinema, directing films like the biopic The Go Master (2006) and the historical action film The Warrior and the Wolf (2009). Since his banning after the release of The Blue Kite, Tian has also emerged as a mentor for some of China's newest film talents, and he has helped produce several important films for these new generations of directors.

Tian Zhuangzhuang was born on April 23, 1952, in Beijing. He was the son of Tian Fang, a famous actor in the 1930s who became head of the Beijing Film Studio after 1949, and Yu Lan, an actress who later ran the Beijing Children's Film Studio. Given his parents' busy jobs as studio chiefs, Tian was raised primarily by his grandmother, though his parents' positions also allowed him to live a relatively comfortable childhood. But because of the Tians' prominence, Tian Zhuangzhuang suffered heavily during the Cultural Revolution, and both his parents were persecuted. Unlike fellow director Chen Kaige, however, Tian never joined the Red Guards, and was eventually sent to the countryside in Jilin, like many youths from so-called "bad families." Though from a cinema family, Tian did not initially want to follow in the family footsteps. Instead, Tian enlisted in the People's Liberation Army in 1968 and served for three years. There he met a war photographer, who introduced him to the camera. Working as a photographer for five years, Tian eventually decided to switch to cinematography and found a job as an assistant cinematographer at the Beijing Agricultural Film Studio.

In 1978, after three years at the studio, Tian applied for entrance in the Beijing Film Academy and was accepted. However, he was forced to apply to the directing department rather than the cinematography department due to his age. While enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy, Tian directed a short student film, Our Corner (1980), based on a short story by Shi Tiesheng. Technically, Our Corner stands as the first film made by Fifth Generation directors. Years later, Our Corner would continue to be screened by professors at the BFA, introducing Tian to new generations of actors and filmmakers. As a result of his role in the making of Our Corner, as well as his experience in film before entering school, Tian became a de facto leader among the students of the BFA. They admired not only his natural talent, but also his natural eye for talent and loyalty to his friends, most notably with Hou Yong, who would go on to serve as his cinematographer in many of Tian's early works. Upon his graduation in 1982, Tian was assigned to the Beijing Film Studio, though his early career was spent making films for other studios. These included works for television, as well as the children's film Red Elephant (1982, co-directed with Zhang Jianya and Xie Xiaojing).

Tian reached international prominence with a pair of experimental films in the mid-1980s, On the Hunting Ground (1985) and The Horse Thief (1986), both about ethnic minorities in China. Though On the Hunting Ground and The Horse Thief were warmly received abroad — American director Martin Scorsese named The Horse Thief as his favorite film of the 1990s (when The Horse Thief was finally released in the United States) — neither film succeeded domestically, and both were considered commercial flops. On the Hunting Ground, for example, sold a meager four prints. Moreover, both films were criticized by the state and by traditionalists as elitist, and as pandering to foreign audiences, a charge that Tian vigorously and defiantly accepted, arguing that films were for the sophisticated. Nevertheless, stung by the rebukes, Tian followed up The Horse Thief with a string of commercially viable films, including Street Players (1987) (his first with the Beijing Film Studio), Rock 'n' Roll Kids (1988), and the historical costume film Li Lianying: The Imperial Eunuch (1991). Tian has since tried to distance himself from these films, often noting that they were part of a journeyman period of his career, where he would sign on to direct existing projects with funding and screenplays already in place. In 1998 Tian was honoured with a Prince Claus Award from the Prince Claus Fund, an international culture and development organisation based in Amsterdam.

After a hiatus from directing of some nine years where Tian mainly focused on producing other directors' works, he returned with a critically acclaimed remake of Fei Mu's masterpiece, Spring in a Small Town (1948), entitled Springtime in a Small Town. As Tian's first film after his ban for The Blue Kite, Springtime was a small, intimate chamber piece with only five roles. To some critics, it reflected Tian's attempt to "play it safe," though the film's lack of political message did not dull its critical reception. In 2004, Tian returned to his favorite subject of China's ethnic minorities with Delamu, a HD-filmed documentary about peoples in Yunnan and Tibet. Delamu was followed by The Go Master (2006), a biopic of the legendary Chinese Go player, Go Seigen. The latest work by Tian is a historical epic, The Warrior and the Wolf, filmed in China's remote Xinjiang Autonomous Region. The film was originally to star Tang Wei of Lust, Caution, but Tang was replaced by actress Maggie Q after the former was banned by Chinese authorities.

• Year — English title — Original title — Notes/Ref. Reference • 1980 — Our Corner — 我们的小院 — Short, co-directed with Xie Xiaojing and Cui Xiaoqin • 1980 — The Courtyard — 校园 — Short • 1982 — Red Elephant — 红象 — Co-directed with Zhang Jianya and Xie Xiaojing • 1984 — September — 九月 — Also known as In September • 1985 — On the Hunting Ground — 猎场扎撒 • 1986 — The Horse Thief — 盗马贼 • 1987 — Street Players — 鼓书艺人 — Also known as The Drum Singers; based on the novel by Lao She • 1988 — Rock 'n' Roll Kids — 摇滚青年 — Also known as Rock Kids • 1989 — Unforgettable Life — 特别手术室 — Also known as Special Operating Room and Illegal Lives • 1991 — Li Lianying: The Imperial Eunuch — 大太监李莲英 — Won an Honourable Mention at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival • 1993 — The Blue Kite — 蓝风筝 — Screened at the Directors' Fortnight of the 1993 Cannes Film Festival • 2002 — Springtime in a Small Town — 小城之春 • 2004 — Delamu — 茶马古道：德拉姆 — Documentary • 2006 — The Go Master — 吴清源 • 2009 — The Warrior and the Wolf — 狼灾记

• Year — English title — Original title — Director • 1992 — Family Portrait — 四十不惑 — Li Shaohong • 1995 — The Winner — 赢家 — Huo Jianqi • 1995 — Rain Clouds over Wushan — 巫山云雨 — Zhang Ming • 1996 — The Making of Steel — 长大成人 — Lu Xuechang • 1998 — So Close to Paradise — 扁担·姑娘 — Wang Xiaoshuai • 2004 — Jasmine Women — 茉莉花开 — Hou Yong • 2004 — Love of May — 五月之恋 — Hsu Hsiao-ming • 2004 — Passages — 路程 — Yang Chao • 2006 — Love in Memory — 爱的是你 — Hsu Shu-chi

• Year — English title — Original title — Director — Notes • 2001 — The Grand Mansion Gate — zh-Hans — Guo Baochang • 2017 — Love Education — 相爱相亲 — Sylvia Chang — Nominated 54th Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actor Nominated 37th Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor Nominated 12th Asian Film Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated 25th Beijing College Student Film Festival for Best Actor Nominated 9th China Film Director's Guild Awards for Best Actor • 2018 — Us and Them — 后来的我们 — Rene Liu — Nominated 55th Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated 32nd Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actor • 2019 — My People, My Country — 我和我的祖国 — Chen Kaige • 2023 — The Shadowless Tower — 白塔之光 — Zhang Lü — Won - 13th Beijing International Film Festival for Best Supporting Actor

Tian Zhuangzhuang is recorded as having received Prince Claus Award and China Film Director's Guild Award for Best Director.