
Directing
Chen Kaige
Born
1952-08-12 (74)
Place of birth
Beijing, China
Known for
Directing
Credits
56 titles
Chen Kaige (陈凯歌) is a Chinese film director born on born August 12, 1952. He is a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema. His films are known for their visual flair and epic storytelling.
Known for
9.0No synopsis available yet.
Voice
2012
7.6A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
The Last Emperor
1987
8.0In an epic tale of theater, gender, love and class, two Beijing opera actors navigate political turmoil as their friendship evolves over decades.
Farewell My Concubine
1993
3.050 different actors and actresses come together to get tested their acting abilities, while 4 esteemed directors will be coaching and challenging them to see who advances to the next stage! Who will survive until the end to become "The Best Actor"?
Everybody Stand By
2019
8.9This Chinese period drama series follows the fortunes of a prominent merchant family engaged in Traditional Chinese Medicine during the waning years of the Ching dynasty. The affairs of this family of doctors/pharmacists (which in those days were one and the same) are intimately linked with social upheavals of the time such as the encroachment of Christian missionaries and foreign imperialism as well as conflicts that inevitably emerge in a large upper class family. Comparable in scope and production value to such recent titles as "Downton Abbey", the lives and character of both masters and servants intertwine in plot lines that spans more than a generation.
The Grand Mansion Gate
2001
5.6A woman grows suspicious of her controlling husband after she discovers secrets about the women in his past.
Killing Me Softly
2002
Film credits
2020s · 1 titles
2010s · 2 titles
7.4A completely remade animation film based on the original 1961 animation The Monkey King. Mythical ancient China. Born from some magic stones that fell to Earth a long time ago when Goddess Nüwa mended the sky, Sun Wukong, aka Monkey King, sets off on his first adventure to gain a worthy weapon. This earns the attention of the Jade Emperor of Heaven.
The Monkey King 3D: Uproar in Heaven
2012
5.3At the 60th anniversary of Cannes Film Festival, 34 famous directors are followed by camera.
A Special Day
2012
2000s · 3 titles
5.3The tale of one man who fought against the tyranny of a ruler and led his people in battle in the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
The Founding of a Republic
2009
6.9When a violin prodigy Xiaochun and his father head to Beijing seeking fame and fortune, they soon discover a fierce world of cutthroat ambition. But when Xiaochun is "adopted" by a famous music tutor, success finally seems within reach - until a shocking discovery begins to unravel his entire world, and the boy must make the most difficult choice of his life. Can he achieve the fame his father had always hoped for without losing the extraordinary passion that sets him apart?
Together
2002
NRMeet Wang Yuelun, a young and ambitious Chinese who dreams of becoming a film director. Filmmaker Elisabeth O. Sjaastad follows an eventful year in his quest to fulfill his dream.
Shiny Stars, Rusty Red
2003
1990s · 2 titles
5.5An exploration of Chinese cinema and its relationships with gender and sexuality, which the film argues has been more frankly and provocatively explored than in any other national cinema. Utilizing both film excerpts and interviews with many leading directors and academics, the film examines topics such as male bonding in kung fu movies, depictions of same-sex bonding and physical intimacy, the emphasis on women's grievances in melodramas, and the career of Yam Kim-Fai, a Hong Kong actress who spent her life portraying men on and off the screen.
Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema
1998
6.9In pre-unified China, the King of Qin sends his concubine to a rival kingdom to produce an assassin for a political plot, but as the king's cruelty mounts she finds her loyalty faltering.
The Emperor and the Assassin
1998
1980s · 2 titles
7.6A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
The Last Emperor
1987
NRTony Rayns presents the work of the 'Fifth Generation' and other innovative filmmakers who emerged during the 1980s in China.
New Chinese Cinema
1989
Series credits
9.0No synopsis available yet.
Voice
2012
3.050 different actors and actresses come together to get tested their acting abilities, while 4 esteemed directors will be coaching and challenging them to see who advances to the next stage! Who will survive until the end to become "The Best Actor"?
Everybody Stand By
2019
8.9This Chinese period drama series follows the fortunes of a prominent merchant family engaged in Traditional Chinese Medicine during the waning years of the Ching dynasty. The affairs of this family of doctors/pharmacists (which in those days were one and the same) are intimately linked with social upheavals of the time such as the encroachment of Christian missionaries and foreign imperialism as well as conflicts that inevitably emerge in a large upper class family. Comparable in scope and production value to such recent titles as "Downton Abbey", the lives and character of both masters and servants intertwine in plot lines that spans more than a generation.
The Grand Mansion Gate
2001
6.0No synopsis available yet.
Action
2021
6.0No synopsis available yet.
My People, My Country: Behind-The-Scenes
2019
NRNo synopsis available yet.
首届CMG中国电影盛典
2026
Behind the camera
8.0In an epic tale of theater, gender, love and class, two Beijing opera actors navigate political turmoil as their friendship evolves over decades.
Farewell My Concubine
1993
5.6A woman grows suspicious of her controlling husband after she discovers secrets about the women in his past.
Killing Me Softly
2002
6.3Commander Wu Qianli leads the 7th Infantry Company soldiers to Funchilin Pass where they are tasked to destroy a bridge to stop enemy troops from retreating.
The Battle at Lake Changjin II: Water Gate Bridge
2022
6.3Commander Wu Qianli leads the 7th Infantry Company soldiers to Funchilin Pass where they are tasked to destroy a bridge to stop enemy troops from retreating.
The Battle at Lake Changjin II: Water Gate Bridge
2022
6.4Korean War, winter 1950. In the frozen and snowy area of Changjin Lake, a bloody battle is about to begin between the elite troops of the United States and China.
The Battle at Lake Changjin
2021
5.6An orphaned girl, driven by poverty at such a young age, makes a promise with an enchantress. In return for beauty and the admiration of every man, she will never be with the man she loves. This spell cannot be broken unless the impossible happens: snow falling in spring and the dead coming back to life. Now a grown and beautiful princess, she regrets her promise, for all of the men she's loved has always been met with tragedy.
The Promise
2005
5.6An orphaned girl, driven by poverty at such a young age, makes a promise with an enchantress. In return for beauty and the admiration of every man, she will never be with the man she loves. This spell cannot be broken unless the impossible happens: snow falling in spring and the dead coming back to life. Now a grown and beautiful princess, she regrets her promise, for all of the men she's loved has always been met with tragedy.
The Promise
2005
6.2During the Late Tang Dynasty, a manor is invaded by a demon cat and a sense of unrest befalls the capital of Changan. A poet is charged with investigating the case and meets up with a monk. The two work together and pull apart the thread of clues to reveal a history of truths leading to the events.
Legend of the Demon Cat
2017
6.2During the Late Tang Dynasty, a manor is invaded by a demon cat and a sense of unrest befalls the capital of Changan. A poet is charged with investigating the case and meets up with a monk. The two work together and pull apart the thread of clues to reveal a history of truths leading to the events.
Legend of the Demon Cat
2017
5.2A monk leaves his monastery and ventures out into the real world for the first time in his life, and ends up in an adventure with a kung-fu master who is guarding a special artifact.
Monk Comes Down the Mountain
2015
5.2A monk leaves his monastery and ventures out into the real world for the first time in his life, and ends up in an adventure with a kung-fu master who is guarding a special artifact.
Monk Comes Down the Mountain
2015
6.6The movie focuses on the battle of Cheolwon, where the 63rd Army of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (CPVA) was ordered to enter the battlefield of Cheolwon in May 1951, just after a month-long battle, to fight against four divisions of the United Nations Army (UNA). The volunteers fought with bloodshed and finally brought the enemy to the negotiation table.
The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death
2024
6.6The movie focuses on the battle of Cheolwon, where the 63rd Army of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (CPVA) was ordered to enter the battlefield of Cheolwon in May 1951, just after a month-long battle, to fight against four divisions of the United Nations Army (UNA). The volunteers fought with bloodshed and finally brought the enemy to the negotiation table.
The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death
2024
6.4Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.
To Each His Own Cinema
2007
8.2Set during the final phase of the War to Resist U.S. and Aid Korea, the film depicts the tense final battles and simultaneous peace negotiations leading to the armistice, capturing the spirit of perseverance and sacrifice on both the battlefield and the diplomatic front.
The Volunteers: Peace at Last
2025
8.2Set during the final phase of the War to Resist U.S. and Aid Korea, the film depicts the tense final battles and simultaneous peace negotiations leading to the armistice, capturing the spirit of perseverance and sacrifice on both the battlefield and the diplomatic front.
The Volunteers: Peace at Last
2025
6.9In pre-unified China, the King of Qin sends his concubine to a rival kingdom to produce an assassin for a political plot, but as the king's cruelty mounts she finds her loyalty faltering.
The Emperor and the Assassin
1998
6.9In pre-unified China, the King of Qin sends his concubine to a rival kingdom to produce an assassin for a political plot, but as the king's cruelty mounts she finds her loyalty faltering.
The Emperor and the Assassin
1998
6.9In pre-unified China, the King of Qin sends his concubine to a rival kingdom to produce an assassin for a political plot, but as the king's cruelty mounts she finds her loyalty faltering.
The Emperor and the Assassin
1998
6.6Anthology of short films directed by several different directors.
My People, My Country
2019
7.2A communist soldier is sent to a remote region of China in order to collect folk songs. Staying with a peasant family (a widower with two small children), he discovers a community whose way of life is completely alien to him, but he gradually wins their trust.
Yellow Earth
1984
7.2A communist soldier is sent to a remote region of China in order to collect folk songs. Staying with a peasant family (a widower with two small children), he discovers a community whose way of life is completely alien to him, but he gradually wins their trust.
Yellow Earth
1984
6.2In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, New China was faced with "internal and external troubles". Since the outbreak of the Korean Civil War, the U.S. military has repeatedly provoked the border between China and North Korea, and civilians have been brutally bombed. In order to maintain the hard-won peace and long-term stability for generations, in October 1950, the Chinese People's Volunteers entered North Korea, and the "Resist US Aid Korea" war kicked off.
The Volunteers: To the War
2023
6.0For generations the Zhao family has wielded power, until their mortal enemy TU’AN GU slaughters the entire clan, determined to wipe out their influence forever. But one Zhao baby survives hidden by CHENG YING the doctor who delivered him. When Tu’an Gu learns of the baby’s escape he seizes every infant in the city, vowing to kill them all unless the Zhao baby is surrendered. As the tyrant’s soldiers arrive at Cheng Ying’s home the frantic doctor hides his wife with their own baby whilst surrendering the Zhao child as his own. But his family is discovered; his baby is presumed to be the Zhao heir and murdered along with his wife for harboring the infant. Now set on revenge Cheng Ying enrolls the Zhao orphan into the service of the Tu’an Gu household, plotting to use him as an instrument of vengeance when he comes of age.
Sacrifice
2010
6.0For generations the Zhao family has wielded power, until their mortal enemy TU’AN GU slaughters the entire clan, determined to wipe out their influence forever. But one Zhao baby survives hidden by CHENG YING the doctor who delivered him. When Tu’an Gu learns of the baby’s escape he seizes every infant in the city, vowing to kill them all unless the Zhao baby is surrendered. As the tyrant’s soldiers arrive at Cheng Ying’s home the frantic doctor hides his wife with their own baby whilst surrendering the Zhao child as his own. But his family is discovered; his baby is presumed to be the Zhao heir and murdered along with his wife for harboring the infant. Now set on revenge Cheng Ying enrolls the Zhao orphan into the service of the Tu’an Gu household, plotting to use him as an instrument of vengeance when he comes of age.
Sacrifice
2010
6.7Set in the decadent 1920s, Temptress Moon tells the very complicated story of a wealthy family living on the outskirts of Shanghai. Their youngest daughter, Ruyi, is brought up as a servant to her opium-addicted father and brother. Meanwhile, her brother-in-law Zhongliang has a successful, if illegal, career seducing and blackmailing married women in the city. When he comes to Ruyi's home the two fall in love, and trouble ensues.
Temptress Moon
1996
6.9When a violin prodigy Xiaochun and his father head to Beijing seeking fame and fortune, they soon discover a fierce world of cutthroat ambition. But when Xiaochun is "adopted" by a famous music tutor, success finally seems within reach - until a shocking discovery begins to unravel his entire world, and the boy must make the most difficult choice of his life. Can he achieve the fame his father had always hoped for without losing the extraordinary passion that sets him apart?
Together
2002
6.9When a violin prodigy Xiaochun and his father head to Beijing seeking fame and fortune, they soon discover a fierce world of cutthroat ambition. But when Xiaochun is "adopted" by a famous music tutor, success finally seems within reach - until a shocking discovery begins to unravel his entire world, and the boy must make the most difficult choice of his life. Can he achieve the fame his father had always hoped for without losing the extraordinary passion that sets him apart?
Together
2002
6.2The epic story Mei Lanfang, who overcame the prejudice against artists in 1930s China to become the country's greatest opera star.
Forever Enthralled
2008
6.2The epic story Mei Lanfang, who overcame the prejudice against artists in 1930s China to become the country's greatest opera star.
Forever Enthralled
2008
5.8Albert Lin and National Geographic Channel unearth the terrible secrets that lie hidden in the tomb of China's first Emperor. The Terracotta Warriors are just the tip of the iceberg in this mausoleum the size of Manhattan, that has gone largely unexcavated…until now. These silent statues guard explosive, macabre findings that rewrite history and paint a very different picture of the ancient world from what we thought we knew.
China's Megatomb Revealed
2016
6.9Ten Minutes Older is a 2002 film project consisting of two compilation feature films entitled The Trumpet and The Cello. The project was conceived by the producer Nicolas McClintock as a reflection on the theme of time at the turn of the Millennium. Fifteen celebrated film-makers were invited to create their own vision of what time means in ten minutes of film.
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
2002
6.7The story of three women whose worlds collide - a social commentary about the 'sound bite' society we are becoming, where perception becomes reality and judgments based on limited facts quickly spread, without regard for the truth or the damage they could cause.
Caught in the Web
2012
6.7The story of three women whose worlds collide - a social commentary about the 'sound bite' society we are becoming, where perception becomes reality and judgments based on limited facts quickly spread, without regard for the truth or the damage they could cause.
Caught in the Web
2012
5.9Army volunteers train for places in China's 1984 National Day parade, where they are expected to be a perfect marching unit.
The Big Parade
1986
7.0An unschooled young man, one of the countless victims of Mao's Cultural Revolution, is laboring in the countryside when he is assigned to teach in a nearby school. Gradually, he abandons the Maoist textbook and encourages the barely literate kids to write about their own lives and feelings.
King of the Children
1987
7.0An unschooled young man, one of the countless victims of Mao's Cultural Revolution, is laboring in the countryside when he is assigned to teach in a nearby school. Gradually, he abandons the Maoist textbook and encourages the barely literate kids to write about their own lives and feelings.
King of the Children
1987
9.0Two-part TV film made by Chen Kaige for Air Force Political Department Drama Troupe.
Forced Take-off
1984
NRThe rural memories, the lost places, and the crazy modernization in Beijing.
100 Flowers Hidden Deep
2002
6.9A blind man's master told him that after he has broken 1000 strings on his Banjo, he can open the Banjo to get a script for his eyes. After 60 years he broke the 1000th string.
Life on a String
1991

