Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke (born 1970) is a Chinese director and screenwriter, a defining voice of the Sixth Generation of Chinese cinema. Raised in the inland province of Shanxi, he began making independent features outside the official studio system in the late 1990s, recording the dislocations of post-reform China — vanished factories, demolished neighbourhoods, migrant lives — in long takes that blend documentary observation with deadpan fiction. He later moved into officially sanctioned production while keeping his distinctive eye for landscape and time. His acclaimed films include Platform, Unknown Pleasures, The World, Still Life, A Touch of Sin, and Mountains May Depart.