Zhou Enlai

Acting

Zhou Enlai

Born — Died

1898-03-05 — 1976-01-08

Place of birth

Jiangsu, China

Known for

Acting

Credits

21 titles

Zhou Enlai (5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China. From October 1949 until his death in January 1976, Zhou was China's head of government. Zhou served under Chairman Mao Zedong and helped the Communist Party rise to power, later helping consolidate its control, form its foreign policy, and develop the Chinese economy. Description above from the Wikipedia article Zhou Enlai, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Laogai: Prison Nation - Inside China's Ruling System poster
7.4

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mao Tsetung established a system of labor camps for systematic repression, known as Laogai, an abbreviation for "Reform Through Labor". In such camps, forced labor and physical and mental torture were used to bring about a so-called mental reform, re-education in the spirit of the Chinese Communist Party. Millions of Chinese were affected. Many were executed. In hundreds of camps, the Party took advantage of the prisoners' free labor to build the economy. Self-criticism and denunciation were often the only way to escape martyrdom. Successive waves of purges culminated in the Cultural Revolution, which saw massive human rights abuses, political assassinations, massacres, and exiles in remote parts of the country. Using unreleased archive footage, the documentary tells the story of the invention, development and improvement of China's totalitarian system of surveillance and repression up to the present day, never told before.

Laogai: Prison Nation - Inside China's Ruling System

2023

A Grin Without a Cat poster
8.0

Chris Marker’s A Grin Without a Cat is an epic political essay tracing the rise and decline of the global left from the 1960s to the 1970s. Through archival footage and commentary, the film examines revolutionary movements in France, Latin America, and beyond, reflecting on the ideals, failures, and fading hopes of a generation.

A Grin Without a Cat

1977

State Funeral poster
6.6

The enigma of the personality cult is revealed in the grand spectacle of Stalin’s funeral. The film is based on unique archive footage, shot in the USSR on March 5 - 9, 1953, when the country mourned and buried Joseph Stalin.

State Funeral

2019

China! poster
9.0

"China!" is a documentary by Felix Greene presenting everyday life in the People’s Republic of China, filmed during extensive travel across the country in the mid-1960s.

China!

1965

China's Sexual Revolution poster
1.0

Looks at how attitudes to sex have changed in China over the years.

China's Sexual Revolution

2008

Political Cinema poster
10.0

Through abrupt soundtrack shifts, this short film jumps between historical political imagery to explore the cinematic language of propaganda, unpacking complex concepts through sensory explosions — from the Brazilian military dictatorship to the Chinese revolution.

Political Cinema

2025

Film credits

2010s · 5 titles

1970s · 4 titles

A Grin Without a Cat poster
8.0

Chris Marker’s A Grin Without a Cat is an epic political essay tracing the rise and decline of the global left from the 1960s to the 1970s. Through archival footage and commentary, the film examines revolutionary movements in France, Latin America, and beyond, reflecting on the ideals, failures, and fading hopes of a generation.

A Grin Without a Cat

1977

And Still I Believe poster
5.2

Originally called World '68, later retitled The World of Today Romm’s film was conceived as an impassioned, large-scale essay on the origins of the 20th century and the subsequent reality the disappointed director felt slipping away from him. The film itself slipped away from him and was left unfinished at the time of his death. His younger colleagues, Marlen Khutsiev, Elem Klimov and German Lavrov, completed the film from the elements he left behind in addition to segments from Ordinary Fascism, closing the film with Romm’s ultimately optimistic outlook: "And still I believe that man is sensible..."

And Still I Believe

1974

A Time For Peace poster
NR

"This film documents President Nixon's 1972 trips to the People's Republic of China, the Soviet Union, Iran, Poland, and Austria. Highlights include the exchange of toasts by Mr. Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and the signing of five major agreements by President Nixon and Russian leaders concerning cooperation in environmental protection, medicine, space, science and technology, and the use of the seas and other commercial relations" (US National Archives).

A Time For Peace

1973

7 Days in Beijing poster
NR

An unfinished and unreleased documentary about the historic 1975 meeting between Mao Zedong and Kukrit Pramoj, which normalized relations between China and Thailand.

7 Days in Beijing

1975

Series credits