Xiaoshuai Wang
Wang Xiaoshuai was a pioneer figure of Chinese independent films in the 1990s, and is one of very few masters who remains true to his art in spite of rampant commercialism in nowadays Chinese film market. By virtue of strong personal style, deep concern for humanity, and diligent independent filmmaking, WANG’s works have competed in Cannes Film Festival four times (twice in Un Certain Regard, twice in main Competition), twice in the Berlinale, and also at Venice and San Sebastian film festivals. He has been appointed chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture for his artistic accomplishments. His directorial debut, The Days, was held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Wang has received many distinguished honors notably the 51th Berlinale Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for Beijing Bicycle (2001), the Jury Prize for Shanghai Dreams (2005) in the Cannes Main Competition and the second Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for In Love We Trust (2008). His most recent works Red Amnesia (2014) and So Long, My Son both examine the far-reaching consequences of the past on the present.
Filmography
2019 SO LONG, MY SON (Di jiu tian chang)
2018 CHINESE PORTRAIT (Wode Jingtou)
2014 RED AMNESIA (Chuǎngrù zhě)
2011 11 FLOWERS (Wo 11)
2010 CHONGKING BLUES (Rizhao chongqing)
2008 IN LOVE WE TRUST (Zuo You)
2005 SHANGHAI DREAMS (Qing hong)
2003 DRIFTERS (Er di)
2001 BEIJING BICYCLE
2000 SUBURBAN DREAMS
1997 SO CLOSE TO PARADISE
1995 FROZEN
1993 THE DAYS
So Long, My Son (2019)
‘We’re waiting to grow old’. This sentence briefly sums up Yaoyun and his wife Liyun’s bitter realisation about their lives. They were once a happy family – until their son drowned playing by a reservoir. And so Yaojun and Liyun leave their home and plunge into the big city, although nobody knows them there and they cannot even understand the local dialect. Their adopted son Liu Xing does not offer them the comfort they had hoped for either. Defiantly rejecting his ‘foreign’ parents, he one day disappears altogether. More
Chinese Portrait (2018)
CHINESE PORTRAIT investigates the current state of China, taking the audience on a journey to discover the complexity of the country through the path of one family. The film is entirely composed of fixed long shots and is narrated from the personal point of view of established Chinese director WANG Xiaoshuai. Tracing his ancestors’ movements both on his father and mother’s sides, Wang tracks the history of an ordinary Chinese family over the course of the tumultuous last century. Wang Xiaoshuai is our main character and guide throughout the film. More
Beijing Bicycle - Shiqi Sui De Danche (2001)
Beijing today. Guei has left his village behind and has come to the city with great expectations. It takes some time, however, before he finds himself a job as a bicycle courier, earning ten yuan for each trip. Should he manage to collect six hundred yuan, he would be in a position to buy his silver mountain bike – his pride and joy – and become its owner. For this reason, Guei doesn’t ever let the odd complaint from a disgruntled customer get him down. He simply accepts it and concentrates on his work. And Lord knows, it’s hard enough. More
