Bi Gan (film director)
Bi Gan | |
|---|---|
| 毕赣 | |
Bi Gan at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival | |
| Born | June 4, 1989 Kaili City, Guizhou, China |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2010–present |
Bi Gan (simplified Chinese: 毕赣; traditional Chinese: 畢贛, born 4 June 1989) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer.
His feature directorial debut, Kaili Blues (2015), earned him Best New Director at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards, Best Emerging Director at the 68th Locarno Film Festival, and the Montgolfière d’Or at the 37th Three Continents Festival in Nantes. His follow-up feature, Long Day's Journey into Night (2018), was selected for the Un Certain Regard section at the 71st Festival de Cannes and earned him a Best Director nomination at the 55th Golden Horse Awards. His third feature film, Resurrection (2025), premiered in Competition at the 78th Festival de Cannes and was presented with a Special Award by the jury.
In June 2025, Bi was invited to join the Directors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[1]
Biography
Bi Gan was born in Kaili City in Guizhou Province on June 4, 1989. He is an ethnic Miao.[2]
From 2008 to 2011, Bi Gan studied Television directing in Radio, Film, and Television Cadre College in Taiyuan, Shanxi. The college was renamed in 2013 as Communication University of Shanxi.[3][4]
During his college years, Bi watched Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, later stating in an interview, "Cinema can be different [from mainstream films]; you can make what you like. What I had seen up to that point were mainly Hollywood films. What I was taught was pretty boring."[5] Because of this particular film, he made up his mind to pursue filmmaking. "Before that, my parents and my relatives thought I would become jobless after graduation since I didn't want to do anything."[5]
Filmmaking career
In 2010, Bi made the short fiction film South, which won the first prize at the university-sponsored "Guang Sui Ying Dong" (Light Follows the Motion of Shadow) Film Festival.
Two years later in 2012, Bi made a black-and-white short film Diamond Sutra (《金刚经》; also known as The Poet and Singer), which features a story of murder in a small isolated town in the mountain. The film received Special Mention Award from the 19th Hong Kong ifva (Incubator for Film and Visual media in Asia), an award organized by Hong Kong Arts Centre,[6] and was ranked top 10 at the 9th China Independent Film Festival in Nanjing, China.[7]
In 2015, Bi's debut feature film, Kaili Blues, which he also wrote, brought the emerging director international recognition. The film won Best New Director and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards,[8] Best Emerging Director at the 68th Locarno Film Festival,[9] and the Montgolfière d’Or at the 37th Three Continents Festival in Nantes.[10]
In 2018, Bi wrote and directed his second feature film, Long Day's Journey into Night, starring Tang Wei, Huang Jue, Sylvia Chang, and Lee Hong-chi. Set once again in Guizhou Province, the film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 71st Festival de Cannes.[11] It received five nominations at the 55th Golden Horse Awards, including Best Feature Film and Best Director for Bi, and went on to win three: Best Cinematography, Best Sound Effects, and Best Original Film Score.[12][13]
Filmography
Feature film
| Year | English title | Original title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Tiger | 老虎 | |
| 2015 | Kaili Blues | 路边野餐 | |
| 2018 | Long Day's Journey into Night | 地球最后的夜晚 | |
| 2025 | Resurrection | 狂野时代 |
Short film
| Year | English title | Original title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | South | 南方 | |
| 2012 | The Poet and Singer | 金刚经 | |
| 2016 | Secret Goldfish | 秘密金鱼 | |
| 2022 | A Short Story | 破碎太阳之心 |
Awards and nominations
References
- ^ "THE ACADEMY INVITES 534 TO MEMBERSHIP". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
- ^ Kraicer, Shelly (21 December 2015). "Cinema Scope | Kaili Blues (Bi Gan, China)". Retrieved 14 June 2019.
- ^ "《路边野餐》传奇". www.163.com (in Chinese). 29 October 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
- ^ "学院简介". Communication University of Shanxi (in Chinese). Retrieved 17 July 2024.
- ^ a b 网易. "毕赣：我把看电影叫面壁思过_网易新闻". news.163.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
- ^ "Past Award Winning Titles — The 19th ifva Awards". www.ifva.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
- ^ "第九届中国独立影像年度展（CIFF） 影像档案 艺术档案". www.artda.cn. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
- ^ Ku, Daniel (23 November 2015). "金馬得主好風光，一字排開大合照享受榮耀". Vogue Taiwan (in Chinese). Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ Lowe, Kinsey (15 August 2015). "'Right Now, Wrong Then,' 'Happy Hour' Take Top Prizes At Locarno Film Festival". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ Regnier, Isabelle (9 December 2015). "Belfort, la cinéphile, valorise la jeune création". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ "Long day's journey into night as seen by Bi Gan". Festival de Cannes. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ "【專訪】60分鐘3D一鏡到底，金馬獎導演畢贛用新片《地球最後的夜晚》推翻觀影經驗！". GQ Taiwan (in Chinese). 4 December 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ Wong, Silvia (18 November 2018). "'An Elephant Sitting Still' wins best film at Golden Horse Awards". Screen Daily. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ "Nominations Announced in 10th APSA Feature Competition". Asia Pacific Screen Awards. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ Crockford, Toby (25 November 2016). "Brisbane in focus for Asia Pacific film festival". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ "The 2018 Official Selection". Festival de Cannes. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ "2022 Short films and La Cinef Selections". Festival de Cannes. 22 April 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ "The films of the Official Selection 2025". Festival de Cannes. 10 April 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
- ^ "The 78th Festival de Cannes winners' list". Festival de Cannes. 24 May 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
- ^ "'Mr. Six' wins big at China Film Directors Guild Awards". China.org.cn. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ Frater, Patrick (22 November 2015). "Hou Hsiao-hsien's 'The Assassin' Dominates Golden Horse Awards". Variety. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ "亞洲電影促進聯盟奈派克獎". Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 4 November 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
- ^ Frater, Patrick (1 October 2018). "Zhang Yimou's 'Shadow' Leads Golden Horse Nominations". Variety. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ Cott, Kaeli Van (17 August 2015). "Here Are the 2015 Locarno Film Festival Winners". IndieWire. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ Morvan, Daniel (1 December 2015). "Festival des 3 continents: la Montgolfière d'or à Kaili Blues". Ouest-France (in French). Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ Maag-Tanchak, Annemarie (3 November 2022). "31st Philadelphia Film Festival Award Winners!". Philadelphia Film Society. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
- ^ Frater, Patrick (26 November 2018). "Sergey Dvortsevoy's 'Ayka' Wins Grand Prize at Kinoshita-Backed Tokyo Filmex". Variety. Retrieved 23 May 2025.