Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke is a director, screenwriter, and producer, whose body of work has established him as the foremost Chinese director working today. His films are best known for their chronicle of the lives of individual characters as they play out against the backdrop of a country undergoing profound transformation.
Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue
(一直游到海水变蓝)
A deeply insightful portrait of four important Chinese authors and the forces that shaped them.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China • 2020
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Huifang Duan, Liang Hong, Pingwa Jia, Hua Yu
- Genre Documentary
- Available on OVID, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Ash Is Purest White
(江湖儿女)
The violent love story of a young dancer and a mobster spanning from 2001 to 2017.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, France, Japan • 2018
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Zhao Tao, Liao Fan, Feng Xiaogang, Xu Zheng, Zhang Yibai, Diao Yi'nan
- Genre Crime, Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy
Mountains May Depart
(山河故人)
The life of Tao, and those close to her, is explored over the course of two decades.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, France, Japan • 2015
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Zhao Tao, Sylvia Chang, Dong Zijian, Zhang Yi, Liang Jingdong
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
A Touch of Sin
(天注定)
Sin is in all of us --- it just takes different forms.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, Japan, France • 2013
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Jiang Wu, Baoqiang Wang, Zhao Tao, Zhang Jiayi, Luo Lanshan, Han Dong
- Genre Drama
- Available on AMC+ Amazon Channel, Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, YouTube, Kanopy
I Wish I Knew
(海上传奇)
The stories of Shanghai – its history, its people, and its architecture -- spanning over more than a century.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China • 2010
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Zhao Tao, Chen Danqing, Toon Wang, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wei Wei, Rebecca Pan
- Genre Documentary, History
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
24 City
(二十四城记)
Three generations reflect on the history of state-owned factory 420 before it is closed and demolished to make way for luxury apartments.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, Hong Kong, Japan • 2008
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Joan Chen, Lü Liping, Zhao Tao, Chen Jianbin
- Genre Drama
- Available on Fandango At Home, Kanopy
Still Life
(三峡好人)
A man and woman witness societal changes in their hometown, which is headed for demolition.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, Hong Kong • 2006
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Han Sanming, Zhao Tao, Wang Hongwei, Zhubin Li, Haiyu Xiang, Lin Zhou
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, YouTube, Kanopy
The World
(世界)
Employees experience alienation at a Beijing theme park filled with recreations of famous monuments.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, Japan, France • 2004
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Zhao Tao, Cheng Taishen, Jue Jing, Jiang Zhongwei, Yi-qun Wang, Wang Hongwei
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Unknown Pleasures
(任逍遥)
Three disaffected teenagers living in Datong represent a startling, new generation.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, Japan, Korea • 2002
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Wei Wei Zhao, Qiong Wu, Zhao Tao, Qing Feng, Wang Hongwei, Ru Bai
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Platform
(站台)
An amateur theater troupe evolves after China's "open door" policy.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Hong Kong, China, Japan • 2001
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Zhao Tao, Wang Hongwei, Liang Jingdong, Tian Yi Yang, Wang Bo, Han Sanming
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel