FILM 2154 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Zhang Yimou, Shohei Imamura, Akira Kurosawa
Exam 3 Lecture 10: Asian Cinema
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• China people’s Repuli of China
• Hong Kong
• Japan
Chinese Cinema
• 3 industries in post WWII
o 1) People’s Repuli of Chia
o 2) Hong Kong
o 3) Japan
• 1949 Communist take control of mainland china
• Pre-1949 Chinese & Hollywood, Hong Kong Films banned
• Chinese government produces films about peasants, soldiers, workers
• 603 features films made in PRC in 17 years between 1949-1966
o Aimed at wide audience, popular but politically correct
o Comedies, dramas, war films, sports films, etc.
• Chinese filmmakers sent to Moscow to study filmmaking
o Beijing Film Academy opens in 1956
• Early 1960s trend towards filmed theatre
• 1966-1970s Cultural Revolution- intellectuals persecuted, film production restricted
o Almost all previous films banned, only a few new ones were made
o Feature films almost all based on Model Operas/Plays
▪ Planned by Jian Qing (wife of Chairman Mao)
▪ Art ust sere the iterests of the orkers, peasats, ad soldiers ad ust
cofor to the proletaria ideology
▪ 8 model operas produced, precious Beijing opera banned
▪ Fil ere Filed theatre” like Red Detachment of Women, The East is Red
o The Gang of Four (1972-76) – filmmaking resumed but still ideological in nature
o The fourth generation- filmmakers trained prior to 1966 whose careers were stalled due to
cultural revolution
▪ Scar Dramas- films depicting emotion trauma of 1966-72 period
• The fifth Generation- Beijing film Academy graduates after Cultural Revolution
o More freedom in content and style
o Reject socialist-realist tradition of previous movies
o More unorthodox approach
o Some films with political overtones banned by Chinese authorities
o Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 cause crackdown on free expression (including films)
o Yellow Earth (1984), Red Sorghum (1987), Farewell My Concubine (1993)
o Filmmaker Zhang Yimou- Red Sorghum, Judou, Raise the Red Lantern, Hero, etc.
• In recent years, international co-production help broaden market for Chinese cinema. For example,
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had Taiwan director and Chinese/Hong Kong performers.
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