Bi Gan (simplified Chinese: 毕赣; traditional Chinese: 畢贛, born 4 June 1989) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer. His first feature film, Kaili Blues, was released in 2015 and won Best New Film Director at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards,[1] the FIPRESCI Prize,[2] The Golden Montgolfiere Prize at the 37th Festival of the Three Continents in Nantes,[3] and the Best First Feature Film Award at The 68th Locarno Film Festival.[4]
Bi Gan | |
|---|---|
| 毕赣 | |
| Born | June 4, 1989 Kaili City, Guizhou, China |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer |
| Years active | 2010–present |
Biography
editBi Gan was born in Kaili City in Guizhou Province on June 4, 1989. He is an ethnic Miao.[5]
From 2008 to 2011, Bi Gan studied Television directing in Radio, Film, and Television Cadre College in Taiyuan, Shanxi. The college was renamed in 2013 as Communication University of Shanxi.[6][7]
During his college years, Bi watched Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, later stating in an interview, "Cinema can be different [from mainstream films]; you can make what you like. What I had seen up to that point were mainly Hollywood films. What I was taught was pretty boring."[8] Because of this particular film, he made up his mind to pursue filmmaking. "Before that, my parents and my relatives thought I would become jobless after graduation since I didn't want to do anything."[8]
Filmmaking career
editIn 2010 he made the short fiction film South, which won the first prize at the university-sponsored "Guang Sui Ying Dong" (Light Follows the Motion of Shadow) Film Festival.
Two years later in 2012, he made a black-and-white short film Diamond Sutra (《金刚经》; also known as The Poet and Singer), which features a story of murder in a small isolated town in the mountain. The film received Special Mention Award from the 19th Hong Kong ifva (Incubator for Film and Visual media in Asia), an award organized by Hong Kong Arts Centre,[9] and was ranked top 10 at the 9th China Independent Film Festival in Nanjing, China.[10]
In 2015, Bi's debut feature film, Kaili Blues, written by him, gave the emerging director wider exposure. The film also garnered the Best New Film Director at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards,[1] the FIPRESCI Prize,[2] the Golden Montgolfiere Prize at the 37th Festival of the Three Continents in Nantes,[3] and the Best First Feature Film Award at the 68th Locarno Film Festival.[4]
In 2017, Bi wrote and directed his second feature film Long Day's Journey into Night, starring Tang Wei, Huang Jue, Sylvia Chang, and Lee Hong-chi. The film is also based in Guizhou Province and was released in 2018.[11]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | South | Short film |
| 2011 | Tiger | |
| 2012 | The Poet and Singer | Short film |
| 2015 | Kaili Blues | |
| 2016 | Secret Goldfish | Short film |
| 2018 | Long Day's Journey into Night | |
| 2022 | A Short Story | Short film |
| TBA | Resurrection † |
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
References
edit- ^ a b "台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 23 October 2018.
- ^ a b "FIPRESCI - Bi Gan". www.fipresci.org. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
- ^ a b "Festival des 3 Continents | Kaili Blues". www.3continents.com. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
- ^ a b "Lu bian ye can". www.locarnofestival.ch. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
- ^ Kraicer, Shelly (21 December 2015). "Cinema Scope | Kaili Blues (Bi Gan, China)". Retrieved 14 June 2019.
- ^ "《路边野餐》传奇". www.163.com (in Chinese). 29 October 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
- ^ "学院简介". Communication University of Shanxi (in Chinese). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
- ^ a b 网易. "毕赣：我把看电影叫面壁思过_网易新闻". news.163.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
- ^ "Past Award Winning Titles — The 19th ifva Awards". www.ifva.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
- ^ "第九届中国独立影像年度展（CIFF） 影像档案 艺术档案". www.artda.cn. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
- ^ "Cannes Lineup Includes New Films From Spike Lee, Jean-Luc Godard". Variety. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.