Directing
Jinchuan Duan
Acting credits
Behind the camera
8.0The film documents a day in the life of Tiananmen Square in 1994, a mere five years after the crushing of a student-led democracy movement in 1989.
The Square
1994
NRNo.16, Barkhor Street is an old courtyard in the heart of Lhasa and the site of the office of the Barkhor Neighborhood Committee. This masterful cinema verité documentary, the landmark work in the history of independent documentaries about Tibet, provides is a photographic study of rich insight into the basic workings of government in Tibet as it that follows the local Party Secretary, Deputy Director, Director for Women’s Affairs, and Community Policeman, among others, as they implement official policies and manage neighborhood affairs.
No. 16 Barkhor South Street
1996
NRThis documentary is named after the well known novel (and later propaganda film) of the same title, which offered a telling of an historic event in 1946 in Northeastern China, when the CCP initiated Land Reform as a means of attracting peasants to join-up with the PLA and help seize state power. Decades later, residents who are still alive and can recall those days offer their personal memories of the class struggle that erupted in Yuanbao Village. Meanwhile, in today's Yuanbao, the local cultural bureau is setting up the Museum of Land Reform as a memorial and a space for education.
The Storm
2005
NRQingpu is a famous sacred mountain in Tibet, where countless monks have practiced for thousands of years. In 1989, Wen Pulin and Duan Jinchuan followed several monks up the mountain and took video of them. After three years, they revisited the same people and got a little closer to understanding their lives. As an in-depth dialogue with down-to-earth, rural people in Tibet, the film strives to understand Buddhism both as a philosophy, but also as a personal choice of lifestyle, as a transcendence of the chaos of life.
The Sacred Site for Asceticism
1993
NRPropaganda documentary on the Northeast Area Revitalization Plan.
Revitalize the Northeast
2007
NRPropaganda documentary on the Northeast Area Revitalization Plan.
Revitalize the Northeast
2007
NRDocumentary on the nature scenery of Heilongjiang.
Trip to Heilongjiang
2010
NRDocumentary on the nature scenery of Heilongjiang.
Trip to Heilongjiang
2010
NRA film by Chinese documentary filmmaker Jinchuan Duan.
The War of Love
2002
NRDocumentary about the history and development of Qiqihar city.
Crane City of the North
2008
7.0Interesting Times: The Secret of My Success is a 2002 Chinese documentary film by director Duan Jinchuan about China's contemporary politics of democracy and the realities of the one child policy. The director shows how this policy is being implemented in Fanshen, a rural village in Northeast China. The film is part of the series, called Interesting Times, which shows different aspects of modern life in China. The other films in the series are: The War of Love (dir. Duan Jinhuan and Jiang Yue), Xiao's Long March (dir. Wu Gong AKA Kang Jianning), and This Happy Life (dir. Jiang Yue). The documentary aired on TV in a shortened version with English narration (59 min.), but a longer version (71 min.) screened at some international festivals.
Interesting Times: The Secret of My Success
2002
Early short documentary film by Duan Jinchuan. It is considered by the filmmaker to be lost.
Highland Barley
1986
NRDocumentary which follows the lives of a group of Tibetan herdsmen living on the Phala Grasslands in the northwest Tibetan plateau. This film follows the decision of a Tibetan nomad living far from any town who has invested money in a truck that doesn’t work.
The Ends of the Earth
1997
NRA documentary film by Duan Jinchuan.
Shipwreck—The Story of 1997
1999
NREarly TV documentary short film by director Duan Jinchuan about traditional Tibetan opera performances.
Blue Mask Offering
1988
NRDocumentary film by Duan Jinchuan
Men and Women in Gada Village
1997

