Zhang Yimou is the most iconic figure among the fifth generation director. To live distinguish itself from other Zhang Yimou’s film because of its social-historical setting, history is not only a background, it brought to front stage, the charactters’ lives are inevitably intertwined with their ever changing environment. Social and political events are seen to be directly responsible for the twists and turns of individuals’s fortunes.
Distinguished cinematographer ( One and Eight , Yellow Earth , The Big Parade ), actor ( The Old Well , A Terracotta Warrior ), singer, and director ( Red Sorghum , Ju Dou ), Zhang Yimou is the most accessible figure in China’s new wave. As a teenager during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Zhang worked at a variety of agricultural jobs before being assigned as an unskilled laborer in a dye factory. It was there that he first started taking photographs. When the Beijing Film Academy re-opened in 1978 after being closed for a dozen years, Zhang, initially refused admission, finally became its oldest student amid a storm of protest. Controversy has been persistent in dogging him. As a member of the “Fifth Generation” of Chinese filmmakers—the loose term for the first group of directors to graduate from the Academy after the Cultural Revolution—his work has been criticized at home for its unrelenting portrayals of social life in China. His last film, Ju Dou , the story of a woman struggling against her predestined fate in a feudal society, (based on the popular novel, Fu-Xi Fu-Xi ) was nominated for an Academy Award after the rightwing government in Beijing tried to withdraw it twice as the country’s official entry. Even though it won the Luis Buñuel Prize at Cannes and top honors at the Chicago Film Festival, at press time, it has still not secured a release at home.
These films came with a new style of shooting as well, directors utilized extensive color and long shots. As a result of the new films being so intricate, the films were for more educated audiences than anything. The new style was profitable for some and helped filmmakers to make strides in the business. It allowed directors to get away from reality and show their artistic sense.
The Fourth Generation also returned to prominence. Given their label after the rise of the Fifth Generation, these were directors whose careers were stalled by the Cultural Revolution and who were professionally trained prior to 1966. Wu Tianming, in particular, made outstanding contributions by helping to finance major Fifth Generation directors under the auspices of the Xi'an Film Studio, while continuing to make films like Old Well (1986) and The King of Masks (1996).
The Fifth Generation movement ended in part after the 1989, although its major directors continued to produce notable works, such as The Emperor's Shadow (1996) by Zhou Xiaowen. Several of its filmmakers went into self-imposed exile: Wu Tianming moved to the United States (but has since returned), Huang Jianxin left for Australia, while many others went into television-related works.
