Zhang Yuan

Born in Nanjing (East China) in 1963, Zhang Yuan is viewed as the leading figure of the sixth-generation filmmakers. After initially studying drawing and painting, Zhang graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cinematography from the prestigious Beijing Film Academy in 1989.

He started to direct feature films in 1990 and has become one of China's leading cinematic voices with his urban realist works. In 1994, TIME magazine selected Zhang Yuan as one of the hundred young leading directors of the world for the 21st century. In 1999, Zhang was awarded a special directing prize for at the Venice International Film Festival (Italy).

Zhang Yuan's Filmography

1990: Mother (Mama)

1992: Beijing Bastards (Beijing Zazhong)

1994: The Square (Guangchang Documentary)

1995: Sons (Erzi)

1996: East Palace, West Palace (Donggong Xigong)

1999: Crazy English (Fengkuang Yingyu)

1999: Seventeen Years (Guonian Huijia)

 Sons

Set in modern Beijing, this documentary and drama probes how a real-life family of four relates to one another in a cold and overwhelming world. At first glance, the family's alcoholism appears as the force driving the family to collapse. To make ends meet, the mother takes on extra work while trying her best to keep the family together. The situation, however, is beyond her control, just as the sons have no say over the uncertainty of their future.

With engaging complexity, this film follows the dilemma of the family in an objective yet touching manner.

Seventeen Years

The film opens with the introduction of an average family of four living in the alleyways of a northern city. The husband and wife are both in their second marriage, and their two teen-age daughters couldn't be more different. The older one, Xiaoqin, is short-haired and more feisty, like her mother, and is happy to just work in a factory once she finished high school; the younger, Yiaolan, is long-haired and studious, and is looking to go to university as a way out.

A tiny argument over a missing 5-yuan (60 cents) coin escalates when the parents side with their own daughter, exposing latent divisions in the family.

Wrongly blamed for the theft, Xiaolan confronts her sister in an alleyway and, in a sudden flash of anger, clocks her over the head with a stick. When Xiaoqin dies in the hospital, Xiaolan is hauled off by the police.

At the 25-minute point, the film flashes forward 17 years, to the present. A small number of prisoners are to be let out of jail to visit their families for the Chinese New Year, and Xiaolan is among the lucky ones. Also getting a brief vacation is Chen Jie, a young prison guard who excitedly calls her mom to say she'll be home soon.

Outside the jail, no one comes to pick up Xiaolan and, in a moment of charity, Chen Jie offers to accompany her to her folks' house. After a series of coincidences that have the two women walking together across the city, they find that Xiaolan's house has been pulled down and her parents moved. The film then develops into a kind of road movie as the determined Chen Jie and the wavering Xiaolan slowly bond during their search for the latter's mother and father.