Acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou is to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) later this month.
The director of House Of Flying Daggers and more recently box office hit Full River Red, which will screen in the gala strand of TIFF, will be honoured in recognition of his career and long-standing contributions to the film industry.
The filmmaker will receive the award at the TIFF opening ceremony on October 23 and later participate in a talk as part of the festival’s TIFF Lounge sessions.
“When Kurosawa Akira received an Academy honorary award in 1990, I was in the audience still as a fledgling filmmaker,” said Zhang in a statement. “His words in his speech, ‘I have not yet grasped the essence of cinema,’ are still fresh in my mind.
“Considering this [award] as one starting point, I will continue my efforts to understand the essence of cinema and make great films.”
Zhang is regarded as a key figure of China’s Fifth Generation filmmakers and began his career in 1978. After graduating in 1982 from the Beijing Film Academy, he made his directorial debut with Red Sorghum, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1988.
Three of his films secured Oscar nominations for best foreign language film: Ju Dou in 1990; Raise The Red Lantern in 1991; and Hero in 2003.
Tackling a wide range of film genres throughout his career, he has also won two Golden Lions at the Venice Film Festival with The Story Of Qiu Ju in 1992 and Not One Less in 1999. Three of his films played in Competition at Cannes, including To Live, which won the grand jury prize and went on to win a Bafta.
His more recent features have included The Great Wall, One Second, Cliff Walkers and Full River Red. The latter was released in January and earned Y4.5bn ($618m) at the box office,
The 36th edition of TIFF will run October 23 to November 1.
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