Jia Zhangke

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 Quanan and Zhang Yuan Jias early films a loose trilogy based in his home province of Shanxi were made outside of Chinas staterun film bureaucracy and therefore are considered underground films Beginning in 2004 Jias status in his own country rose when he was allowed to direct his fourth feature film The World with state approval Jias films have received critical praise and have been recognized internationally notably winning the Venice Film Festivals top award Golden Lion for Still Life He received the Leopard of Honour at the Locarno Film Festival in 2010 the Carrosse dOr lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 and an honorary award at the Visions du Réel in 2024 Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek hailed him as one of the top directors in the world today