Zhang Yimou

In 1920s China, 19-year-old Songlian becomes a concubine of a powerful lord and is forced to compete with his three wives for the privileges gained.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Gong Li, He Saifei, Cao Cuifen

Married couple Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in mid-20th century mainland China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Ge You, Gong Li, Niu Ben

In 9th century China, a corrupt government wages war against a rebel army called the Flying Daggers. A romantic warrior breaks a beautiful rebel out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Zhang Ziyi

During China's Warring States period, a district prefect arrives at the palace of Qin Shi Huang, claiming to have killed the three assassins who had made an attempt on the king's life three years ago.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung

The daughter of a right-winger, schoolgirl Jing Qiu is sent to the countryside for reeducation, and tasked to help write a textbook. There she meets Lao San, a young soldier with a bright future ahead. Despite the class divide and parental disapproval, romance blooms against turbulent times.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Zhou Dongyu, Shawn Dou, Xi Meijuan

A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Zhang Xinyi

When her husband is kicked in the groin by the village head, Qiu Ju, a peasant woman, despite her pregnancy, travels to a nearby town, and later a big city to deal with its bureaucrats and find justice.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Gong Li, Liu Peiqi, Liuchun Yang

Set in the People's Republic of China during the 1990s, the film centers on a 13-year-old substitute teacher, Wei Minzhi, in the Chinese countryside. Called in to substitute for a village teacher for one month, Wei is told not to lose any students.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Wei Minzhi, Zhang Huike, Tian Zhenda

Prompted by the death of his father and the grief of his mother, a man recalls the story of how they met in flashback.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Zhang Ziyi, Zheng Hao, Yulian Zhao

During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as his wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou

Lu and Feng are a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner during the Cultural Revolution. He finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife no longer remembers him.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Gong Li, Chen Daoming, Zhang Huiwen

A movie fan escapes from a labour camp during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and strikes up a relationship with a homeless female vagabond.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Zhang Yi, Liu Haocun, Fan Wei

In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a shadow, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Deng Chao, Sun Li, Ryan Zheng Kai

Tianqing falls in love with Ju Dou, his uncle's wife who is tortured for being childless. However, after they have an affair, they discover that his uncle is impotent and try to conceal the truth.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Gong Li, Li Wei, Li Baotian

An old leper who owned a remote sorghum winery dies. Jiu'er, the wife bought by the leper, and her lover, identified only as "my Grandpa" by the narrator, take over the winery and set up an idealized quasi-matriarchal community headed by Jiu'er. When the Japanese invaders subject the area to their rule and cut down the sorghum to make way for a road, the community rises up and resists as the sorghum grows anew.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Gong Li, Jiang Wen, Teng Rujun

Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.

Dir. Michael Cimino, Luc Dardenne, Atom Egoyan, Chen Kaige, Manoel de Oliveira, Bille August, Andrei Konchalovsky, Claude Lelouch, Walter Salles, Tsai Ming-liang, Theo Angelopoulos, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Olivier Assayas, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Takeshi Kitano, Roman Polanski, Gus Van Sant, Abbas Kiarostami, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Jane Campion, Raymond Depardon, Amos Gitai, Nanni Moretti, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Elia Suleiman, Aki Kaurismäki, Raúl Ruiz, Lars von Trier, Wong Kar-Wai, Ken Loach, Wim Wenders, Youssef Chahine, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Zhang Yimou · With Golshifteh Farahani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Pegah Ahangarani

Shanghai, China, 1930. When young Shuisheng arrives from the countryside, his uncle Liushu puts him at the service of Bijou, the mistress of Laoda, supreme boss of the Tang Triad, constantly threatened by his enemies, both those he knows and those lurking in the shadows.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Gong Li, Li Baotian, Sun Chun

In the puppet state of Manchukuo in the 1930s, four Communist party special agents, after returning to China, embark on a secret mission. Sold out by a traitor, the team find themselves surrounded by threats on all sides.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Zhang Yi, Yu Hewei, Qin Hailu

European mercenaries searching for black powder become embroiled in the defense of the Great Wall of China against a horde of monstrous creatures.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Willem Dafoe

During China's Song Dynasty, a mysterious murder occurs at Chancellor Quin Hui's palace after meeting delegates from the neighboring Jin Dynasty. The members become embroiled not just in a murder mystery, but a larger conspiracy concerning the fate of the empire.

Dir. Zhang Yimou · With Shen Teng, Jackson Yee, Zhang Yi