Yellow Earth

The first modern Chinese film was one of the 1980’s most exciting debuts. Set in 1939, a communist soldier visits a backward village where a girl is sold to a much older man. When she hears the soldier speak about breaking feudal traditions, she becomes obsessed with the unrealistic hope that she can escape her fate.

Political undercurrents and the innovative form proved problematic in China. Chen Kaige and cameraman Zhang Yimou invented a new cinematic language of colour, shadows, glances and unexpressed thoughts. Yellow Earth challenged social realism, the era’s common genre, revolutionising the way Chinese films were made and watched. After a hesitant reception, Yellow Earth developed into one of the most popular films of the time. Kaige’s debut simultaneously heralded the fifth generation of Chinese filmmakers, who would go on to experiment with multi-interpretable images.