Chen Kaige

CHEN Kaige (1952, China) is regarded as one of China’s most important directors and a leading filmmaker of the Fifth Generation of Chinese cinema. During the Cultural Revolution, he was forced to work as a peasant, soldier and factory worker. He joined the Beijing Film Academy in 1978, after the end of the Cultural Revolution, and graduated in 1982. He made his debut with Yellow Earth (1984) to immediate acclaim, including a Golden Leopard nomination and Silver Leopard win at Locarno. A meeting between Kaige and IFFR director Huub Bals led to the founding of the Hubert Bals Fund, with Kaige becoming the first filmmaker to be supported by the Fund. His third feature, King of Children (1987), was nominated for a Palm d’Or in Cannes, but it was his fifth film Farewell My Concubine (1993) that became his international breakthrough. The film became the first Chinese-language film to win the Palme d’Or, as well as winning a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and receiving two Oscar nominations. In 2002, he directed his only English-language film, Killing Me Softly. In 2006, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Moscow International Film Festival.