Jia Zhangke

Directing

Jia Zhangke

Born

1970-05-24 (56)

Place of birth

Fenyang, Shanxi, China

Known for

Directing

Credits

76 titles

Jia Zhangke (Chinese: 贾樟柯; pinyin: Jiǎ Zhāngkē, born 24 May 1970; Fenyang) is a Chinese film and television director, screenwriter, producer, actor and writer. He is the dean of the Shanxi Film Academy of Shanxi Media College and the dean of the Vancouver Film School of Shanghai University. He graduated from the Literature Department of Beijing Film Academy. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai, Lou Ye, Wang Quan'an and Zhang Yuan. Jia's early films, a loose trilogy based in his home province of Shanxi, were made outside of China's state-run film bureaucracy, and therefore…

Known for

Golden Horse Awards poster
9.0

The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards (Chinese: 台北金馬影展; pinyin: Táiběi Jīnmǎ Yǐngzhǎn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-pak Kim-má iáⁿ-tián) is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is usually held in November or December in Taipei, although the event has also been held in other locations in Taiwan in recent times

Golden Horse Awards

1962

Thirteen Talks poster
8.8

No synopsis available yet.

Thirteen Talks

2016

Black Dog poster
7.1

Released from jail, Lang returns to his hometown in Northwest China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with clearing stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray. The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together.

Black Dog

2024

Mr. Tree poster
7.2

Teased by hallucinations, Shu, a slacker living in a rural village, struggles with an ever-loosening grip on reality. Yet when one of his visions manifests as real, his fellow villagers come to regard him as a clairvoyant. Can Shu genuinely see into the future? Is he actually just a basket case? Or is he perhaps more lucid than he seems, and pulling a fast one on everyone?

Mr. Tree

2011

Crossroads with Luo Yonghao poster
10.0

This is a long-form, in-depth podcast hosted by Luo Yonghao, with each episode running three to five hours. We engage in extended conversations with figures shaped by the currents of our time, focusing on technology and the humanities—telling personal stories of fate and exploring the forces driving our era.

Crossroads with Luo Yonghao

2025

Still Life poster
7.2

A town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes.

Still Life

2006

Film credits

2020s · 13 titles

Black Dog poster
7.1

Released from jail, Lang returns to his hometown in Northwest China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with clearing stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray. The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together.

Black Dog

2024

Citizen Kitano poster
7.3

Takeshi Kitano is an international icon. We know the actor, the multi-award-winning filmmaker, but many ignore his double personality: the crazy TV star, the street kid from Tokyo close to the Yakuza, and the political satirist who blasted taboos! Can we dream of a better guide to introduce us to the cultural history of Japan?

Citizen Kitano

2020

The Lychee Road poster
7.1

A Tang Dynasty minor official risks everything to deliver lychees across China. Li Shande, middle-aged and struggling, sees this dangerous mission as his last chance for success.

The Lychee Road

2025

Visit poster
5.2

The idea is to create a film at home, using the environment, the people or the animals in that space. The only outdoor areas that may be used are outdoor living spaces, such as the terrace, the garden, the balcony and the stairwell.

Visit

2020

Being Towards Death poster
5.8

After a failed suicide attempt, Zhang Xiaobing (Jiang Long) is sent to Ward 10 — a ward for the critically ill, but strangely full of joy. Among patients clinging to life, a man who wanted to die discovers the courage to live.

Being Towards Death

2026

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Presi dall'onda - Conversazione con Jia Zhangke

2026

Art College 1994 poster
6.6

In the 1990s, a group of students on the campus of the Chinese Southern Academy of Arts are pursuing their studies and preparing to face the world. China is opening up to the West and the students’ lives are a tangle of love stories and friendships, artistic research, ideals and ambitions brought about by new influences. Caught between tradition and modernity, they have to decide who they want to become.

Art College 1994

2025

Mostly Sunny poster
4.8

Wu You is as carefree as his name suggests. He is single and lives with his nearly 70-year-old mother Zhang Baoxia. He joins an organization called Sunshine Club and becomes a senior partner, but his mother suddenly falls ill.

Mostly Sunny

2025

The Best is Yet to Come poster
6.1

In 2003, Han Dong, a teenager who dropped out of high school, arrives at Beijing with a dream of becoming a journalist.

The Best is Yet to Come

2023

Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue poster
6.8

Filmmaker Jia Zhangke chronicles his local literature festival in Shanxi, China which includes a multi-generational roster of the country's most esteemed writers.

Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue

2021

Keep Rolling poster
8.0

One of Hong Kong's most influential filmmakers, Ann Hui, becomes a “star” for the first time in Man Lim-chung's directorial debut. A forerunner of the New Wave, Hui’s tumultuous, forty-year career is an unequivocal testimony to her unyielding dedication to filmmaking, and her expedition into the metamorphic city. This biopic probes into the acclaimed director’s idiosyncratic world, where we witness her rashness and goofiness, as well as her humanistic concerns for the everyday nobodies which make her films so moving.

Keep Rolling

2020

Moonlight Madness poster
5.0

When gold medal lawyer Hu Gongping was having a secret meeting with his lover She Xiaoman, a body suddenly fell from the sky in the room. Hu Gongping called for help from his assistant Zhu Shiqi, but he didn't want to panic and blurt out several lies, causing a series of chaos! With the emergence of various "family members" such as Xiong Dali, Lin Luanfeng, and Shi Shi, the situation continues to escalate. As the matter is about to be exposed, how will this hilarious "accident" end?

Moonlight Madness

2024

The Great Director poster
6.0

The closing film for 2021's Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival.

The Great Director

2021

2010s · 9 titles

A Touch of Sin poster
7.2

Four people in different provinces are driven to violent ends: An angry miner is enraged by corruption in his village. A migrant discovers the possibilities of owning a firearm. A receptionist is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. A young factory worker goes from one job to the next.

A Touch of Sin

2013

The Hedonists poster
7.2

The closure of an unprofitable state-run coal mine in Shanxi, China forces three middle-aged men who worked there to search for employment elsewhere.

The Hedonists

2016

About Cinema poster
8.2

An abandoned tumbledown theater in the outback of Paraíba state is the initial setting of a film about cinema, which explores the testimonials of the novelist and playwright Ariano Suassuna and other filmmakers such as Ruy Guerra, Julio Bressane, Ken Loach, Andrzej Wajda, Karim Ainouz, José Padilha, Hector Babenco, Vilmos Zsigmond, Béla Tarr, Gus Van Sant and Jia Zhangke. They all respond to two basic questions: why do they make movies and why do they serve the seventh art. The filmmakers share their thoughts about time, narrative, rhythm, light, movement, the meaning of tragedy, the audience‘s desires and the boundaries with other forms of art.

About Cinema

2015

Everybody's Fine poster
5.5

When all four of his children cancel their yearly visits, a widower travels to the far corners of the country to see them and discovers the hidden sides of their lives.

Everybody's Fine

2016

The Continent poster
6.2

Three men living in the Eastern most island of China go on a road trip to the Western most end of the country, and facing crises of love, friendship, and faith on their journey to the West.

The Continent

2014

Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang poster
6.9

Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke returns to the shooting locations of his films, along with his actors, friends and close collaborators. Jia recalls the inspiration sources for his movies, such as Platform, Still Life and A Touch of Sin. The film is the memory of a filmmaker and of a country in convulsion, China, which reveals itself little by little.

Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang

2016

Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema poster
7.1

With Taiwan remaining in the grip of martial law in 1982, a group of filmmakers from that country set out to establish a cultural identity through cinema and to share it with the world. This engaging documentary looks at the movement's legacy.

Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema

2014

Boundless poster
7.7

As Hong Kong's foremost filmmaker, Johnnie To himself becomes the protagonist of this painstaking documentary exploring him and his Boundless world of film. A film student from Beijing and avid Johnnie To fan, Ferris Lin boldly approached To with a proposal to document the master director for his graduation thesis. To agreed immediately and Lin's camera closely followed him for over two years, capturing the man behind the movies and the myths. The result is Boundless, a candid profile of one of Hong Kong's greatest directors and a heartfelt love letter to Hong Kong cinema.

Boundless

2013

No artwork available
NR

a documentary series created by Jia Zhangke, with 10 short films about 10 leading figures in various industries in China, exploring the stories of China's decade. Won the Gold Award at China Marketing Awards

Our Time: A Decade of Daring

2015

2000s · 7 titles

No artwork available
NR

A documentary about Peking in the dawn of the new Millenium. Contains interviews with Jia Zhangke and dj Gaohu

Overloaded Peking

2002

Made in China poster
NR

A documentary about the making of Jia Zhangke's film the World.

Made in China

2005

Unknown Pleasures poster
6.6

Two disaffected, unemployed Chinese youth drift through life on the streets of their industrial town, their paths crossing with that of a local young singer and dancer working for a liquor company as a spokesmodel.

Unknown Pleasures

2002

Shiny Stars, Rusty Red poster
NR

Meet 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

My Camera Doesn’t Lie poster
NR

A film about Chinese underground filmmakers who were the first to express their truthful and realistic views on China from 1989 until today. It is also the first film to speak about the Chinese homosexual film scene. The documentary features Chinese intellectuals and directors such as Cui Zi’en, Jia Zhangke, Ju An Qi, Li Yu, Liu Bingjian, Liu Hao, Wang Xiaoshuai, Zhang Yuan.

My Camera Doesn’t Lie

2003

Karmic Mahjong poster
5.0

Chen Chuan (Francis Ng) is a simple man who seems to be cursed with bad luck all the time. Convinced by a blind fortune teller that he must eliminate the "villain" that is bringing him the ills, Chen vows to kill the person responsible for his misfortunes. But he soon has second thoughts when he suspect that the "villain" is none other than his own wife.

Karmic Mahjong

2006

Xiao Jia Going Home poster
3.0

Leading Chinese Sixth Generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke returns home to Fenyang in Shanxi province after winning the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival for Still Life (2006). The experiences of his childhood, the people he grew up with, and the changing landscape of his home town gave Jia the inspiration to make his first films. The documentary forms a poignant inquiry into the past of the director's life and Chinese society at the same time.

Xiao Jia Going Home

2007

Series credits

Behind the camera

Mr. Tree poster
7.2

Teased by hallucinations, Shu, a slacker living in a rural village, struggles with an ever-loosening grip on reality. Yet when one of his visions manifests as real, his fellow villagers come to regard him as a clairvoyant. Can Shu genuinely see into the future? Is he actually just a basket case? Or is he perhaps more lucid than he seems, and pulling a fast one on everyone?

Mr. Tree

2011

Still Life poster
7.2

A town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes.

Still Life

2006

Still Life poster
7.2

A town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes.

Still Life

2006

A Touch of Sin poster
7.2

Four people in different provinces are driven to violent ends: An angry miner is enraged by corruption in his village. A migrant discovers the possibilities of owning a firearm. A receptionist is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. A young factory worker goes from one job to the next.

A Touch of Sin

2013

A Touch of Sin poster
7.2

Four people in different provinces are driven to violent ends: An angry miner is enraged by corruption in his village. A migrant discovers the possibilities of owning a firearm. A receptionist is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. A young factory worker goes from one job to the next.

A Touch of Sin

2013

Ash Is Purest White poster
6.9

Set in China's underworld, this tale of love and betrayal follows a dancer who fired a gun to protect her mobster boyfriend during a fight. On release from prison 5 years later, she sets out to find him.

Ash Is Purest White

2018

Ash Is Purest White poster
6.9

Set in China's underworld, this tale of love and betrayal follows a dancer who fired a gun to protect her mobster boyfriend during a fight. On release from prison 5 years later, she sets out to find him.

Ash Is Purest White

2018

Caught by the Tides poster
6.7

Years after her boyfriend left her for the big city and promised to bring her there after he’s settled down, a Chinese woman sets out on a journey to be reunited with him.

Caught by the Tides

2024

Caught by the Tides poster
6.7

Years after her boyfriend left her for the big city and promised to bring her there after he’s settled down, a Chinese woman sets out on a journey to be reunited with him.

Caught by the Tides

2024

Mamma Dunhuang poster
NR

Follows a mother who has spent most of her life in Dunhuang, a historic city in western China. With the help of artificial intelligence, she embarks on a journey that takes her from western to eastern China.

Mamma Dunhuang

—

Mamma Dunhuang poster
NR

Follows a mother who has spent most of her life in Dunhuang, a historic city in western China. With the help of artificial intelligence, she embarks on a journey that takes her from western to eastern China.

Mamma Dunhuang

—

Jia Zhangke's Dance poster
1.0

Jia Zhangke, in collaboration with Seedance 2.0 a video generation model by Doubao, ponders about the future of cinema with his AI counterpart.

Jia Zhangke's Dance

2026

Jia Zhangke's Dance poster
1.0

Jia Zhangke, in collaboration with Seedance 2.0 a video generation model by Doubao, ponders about the future of cinema with his AI counterpart.

Jia Zhangke's Dance

2026

Neighbors poster
4.5

The 43rd edition screens Neighbors, with five segments about the theme “neighbors”: not only about physical proximity, but also about relationships. In Brazil, Olga is a 90-year-old black woman who lost her husband one year ago; her neighbors, who come from different parts of the world, interrupt her grief. In Russia, an employee tries so hard to please his boss that he becomes inconvenient. An Indian woman, with the help of her male friend, decides to learn how to drive, an uncommon practice for women in the country. In China, an elderly, owner of an old and decadent barbershop, argues with his son, who wants to change the business. In South Africa, a group of homeless fights for the right to housing.

Neighbors

2019

Still Born poster
NR

Thousands of years in the future, a laborer whose job is to recover artifacts of the past tries to free herself from a dystopian caste system.

Still Born

2017

Platform poster
7.1

China’s rapid changes from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, as seen through the lives of four performers in a theater troupe.

Platform

2001

Platform poster
7.1

China’s rapid changes from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, as seen through the lives of four performers in a theater troupe.

Platform

2001

Venice 70: Future Reloaded poster
5.0

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

2013

Mountains May Depart poster
7.0

The life of Tao, and those close to her, is explored in three different time periods: 1999, 2014, and 2025.

Mountains May Depart

2015

Mountains May Depart poster
7.0

The life of Tao, and those close to her, is explored in three different time periods: 1999, 2014, and 2025.

Mountains May Depart

2015

Visit poster
5.2

The idea is to create a film at home, using the environment, the people or the animals in that space. The only outdoor areas that may be used are outdoor living spaces, such as the terrace, the garden, the balcony and the stairwell.

Visit

2020

Visit poster
5.2

The idea is to create a film at home, using the environment, the people or the animals in that space. The only outdoor areas that may be used are outdoor living spaces, such as the terrace, the garden, the balcony and the stairwell.

Visit

2020

Yulu poster
NR

The film uses a documentary approach to tell the stories of 12 Chinese pioneers, chosen from the fields of business and the arts. The protagonists reflect upon their life journeys against the backdrop of modern China.

Yulu

2011

Yulu poster
NR

The film uses a documentary approach to tell the stories of 12 Chinese pioneers, chosen from the fields of business and the arts. The protagonists reflect upon their life journeys against the backdrop of modern China.

Yulu

2011

The Hedonists poster
7.2

The closure of an unprofitable state-run coal mine in Shanxi, China forces three middle-aged men who worked there to search for employment elsewhere.

The Hedonists

2016

The Hedonists poster
7.2

The closure of an unprofitable state-run coal mine in Shanxi, China forces three middle-aged men who worked there to search for employment elsewhere.

The Hedonists

2016

A Song for You poster
NR

In A Song for You – a road movie and a music industry insider comedy, with lots of songs – young Ngawang leaves behind a nomadic existence on the Tibetan plateau for big city Lhasa nightclubs. His dream is to record an album and be heard around the country. Cutting an album costs money, which he doesn’t have. One day he meets a woman who looks just like his Loyiter, a talisman of the goddess of art and music. Impossible, says his father, as only the pure of heart meet her, only in their dreams. But, Ngawang perseveres. She takes him on a journey of discovery through life and love.

A Song for You

2020

Pickpocket poster
7.2

A small town pickpocket whose friends have moved on to higher trades finds himself bitter and unable to adapt.

Pickpocket

1997

Pickpocket poster
7.2

A small town pickpocket whose friends have moved on to higher trades finds himself bitter and unable to adapt.

Pickpocket

1997

Pickpocket poster
7.2

A small town pickpocket whose friends have moved on to higher trades finds himself bitter and unable to adapt.

Pickpocket

1997

All Tomorrow's Parties poster
6.1

In a future century, after the apocalypse, Gui Dao dynasty controls continental Asia. Zhuai and his younger brother Mian are captured and sent to "Prosperity Camp" for reeducation. They soon discover that the camp's aim is to brainwash people with propaganda. Five years later, there's a change in government and they are free again. Zhuai falls in love for the beautiful Xuelan and together they take her to an old industrial city, now deserted. They get themselves a place to live in an abandoned apartment and try to rediscover the little pleasures of life.

All Tomorrow's Parties

2003

The Condition of Dogs poster
5.4

Shows a market where puppies are bought and sold. Several puppies are placed in a cloth bag, and they struggle to break free. One bites through the bag, pokes his head, and is observed in his triumph and then confusion.

The Condition of Dogs

2001

Memories Look at Me poster
7.0

Fang comes back to her parents’ home in Nanjing, to spend some time with them. During her stay, her elder brother’s family comes for a family reunion, she receives a Yengisar knife as a gift and her sister-in-law tries to set her up on a blind date. Around her, time goes by, memories come back in the conversations, some she knows, some not. The present is mixed up with the past, and the steps towards the future may walk along the path of eternal loss.

Memories Look at Me

2012

One Night on the Wharf poster
NR

Han Dong adapts his own 1998 novel, about a group of young poets accidentally caught up in an inexplicable dispute with local hoodlums and security guards.

One Night on the Wharf

2017

Dong poster
5.6

Jia Zhangke travels with painter Liu Xiaodong from China to Thailand as they as they meet everyday workers in the throes of social turmoil. Liu Xiaodong is well-known for his monumental canvases, particularly those inspired by China's Three Gorges Dam project. Jia Zhangke visits Liu on the banks of Fengjie, a city about to be swallowed up by the Yangtze River. The area is in the process of being "de-constructed" by armies of shirtless male workers who form the subject of Liu's paintings. Liu and Jia next travel to Bangkok, where Liu paints Thai sex workers languishing in brothels. The two sets of paintings are united in their subjects' shared sense of malaise in the face of the dehumanizing labor afforded them.

Dong

2006

Dong poster
5.6

Jia Zhangke travels with painter Liu Xiaodong from China to Thailand as they as they meet everyday workers in the throes of social turmoil. Liu Xiaodong is well-known for his monumental canvases, particularly those inspired by China's Three Gorges Dam project. Jia Zhangke visits Liu on the banks of Fengjie, a city about to be swallowed up by the Yangtze River. The area is in the process of being "de-constructed" by armies of shirtless male workers who form the subject of Liu's paintings. Liu and Jia next travel to Bangkok, where Liu paints Thai sex workers languishing in brothels. The two sets of paintings are united in their subjects' shared sense of malaise in the face of the dehumanizing labor afforded them.

Dong

2006

Close-Up poster
NR

In Close-Up, Jia explores the counterpart to the wide shot. Four elevated surveillance cameras scan a busy traffic intersection, capturing the steady stream of cars, bikes and pedestrians that cross it. Amid all that bustle and movement, a fifth camera with a long telephoto lens picks out one individual. A man with a bandaged hand. A wide shot changes into a close-up. Visitors have the freedom to choose their own context and focus. They can even tell the story of this man. HD video installation on 5 screens, colour, silent

Close-Up

2021

Torino Shadow poster
2.0

A woman travels from southern China to Turin, Italy, to see her husband. But an unexpected departure leaves her to find herself again, and to find cinema.

Torino Shadow

2026

Torino Shadow poster
2.0

A woman travels from southern China to Turin, Italy, to see her husband. But an unexpected departure leaves her to find herself again, and to find cinema.

Torino Shadow

2026

24 City poster
7.0

As a decades-old state-run aeronautics munitions factory in downtown Chengdu, China is being torn down for the construction of the titular luxury apartment complex, director Jia Zhangke interviews various people affiliated with it about their experiences.

24 City

2008