Yang Lina (director)
Yang Lina | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972 (age 52–53) Jilin, China |
| Other names | Yang Tianyi[1] |
| Alma mater | People's Liberation Army Academy of Art |
| Occupation | Film director |
| Yang Lina | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 杨荔钠 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 楊荔鈉 | ||||||
| |||||||
Yang Lina is a Chinese independent filmmaker and performer whose films primarily deal with marginalized people, social issues, and feminism. Having shot documentary films for much of her career, she is a major contributor to the New Documentary Movement in China.[2][3]
Career
Yang was born in Jilin province in 1972. She graduated from the People's Liberation Army Academy of Art in 1995, beginning her career as a dancer and theater actress in a PLA drama troupe.[4] She left in the mid-1990s, transitioning into filmmaking with her first documentary, Old Men (1999), which focused on the daily lives of a group of octogenarians in Beijing.[5]
Established filmmakers in the New Documentary Movement at the time, such as Wu Wenguang and Zhang Yuan, typically used studio equipment and multi-person crews to shoot their documentaries. Following their example, Yang initially hired a cameraman and soundman, but, unhappy with their formal style, began shooting Old Men herself on a Panasonic EZ-1.[6] Her techniques and use of the digital video (DV) format's closer point of view impressed Wu, who mentored her and gave feedback on her project.[6][7] As one of the first Chinese documentarians to adopt the format, Yang helped initiate the DV turn in the New Documentary Movement, "situating [herself] as an emblematic transitional figure".[8] Old Men won multiple festival awards, including the Jury Award at the Cinéma du Réel and the Asian New Current Award at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.[8]
Her first acting role came in Jia Zhangke's Platform (2000), where she played Zhong Ping, a member of a performance troupe dealing with changes following the Cultural Revolution.[9] The same year, her family history and parents' divorce was the subject of her second documentary, Home Video.[7][10] During this period she went by the stage name "Yang Tianyi".[1]
Yang turned to feature filmmaking in the 2010s, conceiving of a trilogy of women-focused films.[10] It began with Longing for the Rain (2013), which portrayed female sexuality amidst economic and class issues;[10] it was followed by Spring Tide (2019), a family drama about three generations of women and their conflicts, and concluded with Song of Spring (2022), about an elderly woman forced to take care of her daughter who has developed Alzheimer's disease.[11]
Big World (2024), based on screenwriter You Xiaoying's personal experiences, starred Jackson Yee as a young man with cerebral palsy. It won the Audience Award at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival.[12]
Yang served on the jury of the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2025.[13]
Filmography
As actor
| Year | English title | Chinese title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Platform | 站台 | Zhong Ping | Credited as Yang Tianyi |
As director
| Year | English title | Chinese title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Old Men | 老头 | Documentary; credited as Yang Tianyi |
| 2000 | Home Video | 家庭录像带 | Documentary |
| 2007 | Let's Dance Together | 一起跳舞 | Documentary |
| 2008 | My Neighbors and Their Japanese Ghosts | 我的邻居说鬼子 | Documentary |
| 2008 | Love Life of Mr. An | 老安 | Documentary |
| 2009 | Wild Grass of Qingdao | 野草 | Documentary |
| 2013 | Longing for the Rain | 春梦 | |
| 2019 | Spring Tide | 春潮 | |
| 2022 | Song of Spring | 春歌 (also titled 妈妈!) | |
| 2022 | Leap of Faith | 少女与马 | Documentary |
| 2024 | Big World | 小小的我 |
References
- ^ a b Zhang 2023, p. 112.
- ^ Zhang 2023, p. 109–110.
- ^ Braester 2010, p. 77.
- ^ Braester 2010, p. 248.
- ^ Zhang 2023, p. 107.
- ^ a b Zhang 2023, p. 112–114.
- ^ a b Braester 2010, p. 207.
- ^ a b Zhang 2023, p. 108.
- ^ Liu Xiaodai (27 September 2022). "在贾樟柯《站台》里跳舞的女导演，奉献了一堂生死课". The Paper (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 28 May 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ^ a b c Tsui, Clarence (1 April 2013). "Chinese Director Yang Lina: 'China is Getting More Patriarchal'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ^ Pan, Qianyi (9 November 2022). "This Director Is Giving China's Elderly Women the Spotlight". VICE. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
- ^ Scott, Mathew (15 May 2025). "China Pavilion: Low-Budget 'Big World' Turns Cameras on the Marginalized". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ^ Scott, Mathew (13 June 2025). "Shanghai Jury Chair Giuseppe Tornatore Says Picking Film Fest Winners 'Is Actually Very Simple'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
Sources
- Zhang, Zhen (11 September 2023). "From Sidewalk Realism to Spectral Romance: Yang Lina's Post-Socialist Beijing and Beyond". Women Filmmakers in Sinophone World Cinema. Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-90-485-5409-6.
- Braester, Yomi (2010). "Excuse Me, Your Camera Is in My Face: Auteurial Intervention in PRC New Documentary". The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement: For the Public Record. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-988-8028-52-8.