Zhang Yimou

Had a chance this evening to see a speaker I’ve wanted very much to see for a long time: Director Zhang Yimou. (That’s him in the brown sweater sitting next to the woman)
Zhang Yimou is perhaps the most well-known and well-respected director in Chinese cinema today. His most recent films include ‘Hero’ and ‘House of Flying Daggers’, both of which were great. And for those who are more familiar with Chinese cinema, his most well-known work is probably ‘Raise the Red Lantern’. One of his real hallmarks is his use of color, both Hero and Flying Daggers are great examples of this. If you haven’t seen any of these films, I recommend you do so. (Though in fairness I have to admit, I haven’t seen Red Lantern myself, but it’s on my list to see over the Xmas break)
The man in black sitting next to Zhang Yimou is Tan Dun, a famous composer who did much of the music for ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’. He and Zhang Yimou were at Columbia discussing their new opera, ‘The First Emperor’, which is set to open at the Metropolitan Opera here in New York very soon. (Actually, it might already be playing) The story is set along the same lines as the movie Hero, it is about the first emperor who united China during the warring states period. It’s the first opera to be put on at the Metropolitan that was produced by an entirely Chinese production team, and I would have gone to see it myself if it hadn’t been entirely sold out.
The talk itself was enlightening, Zhang Yimou seems like quite an interesting fellow. The woman sitting next to him is his interpreter; he doesn’t speak English, which was funny because some of the people in the audience asked him questions in Chinese, and when he would reply about half the audience would laugh before his reply was translated. (My own Chinese isn’t good enough yet that I could really follow what he was saying) He has a deep voice, but he’s soft spoken, seems very serious, and very modest. Struck me as a true artist, in every sense. A lot of what he talked about would only make sense in the context of the discussion about the opera, but it was clear that he and Tan Dun had really enjoyed working on this opera together.
I was extremely glad to get the chance to hear him speak. We found out that he has been put in charge of the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, which is really quite a vindication considering that Raise the Red Lantern was banned in China for a long time, as it was seen to have a subversive anti-communist message. That he is now responsible for representing his country on the world stage is quite a high honor. I wish him every success in his labors, and hope that I can be there that summer in China to see it for myself.