The leading chronicler of his homeland’s rapid transformation, Jia Zhangke is among the most acclaimed of China’s Sixth Generation directors. Encompassing both documentary and fiction filmmaking, Jia’s cinema interrogates the nature of social and economic shifts, anatomising how their repercussions are felt at both a human and an environmental level. With his latest film Caught by the Tides (2024) premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, we’re looking back at some of his most acclaimed features.
A political firebomb that the Chinese government tried to suppress, A Touch of Sin (2013) took the Best Screenplay prize in Cannes for its singular combination of arthouse neorealism and visceral kung-fu vengeance. The grand melodrama Mountains May Depart (2015), meanwhile, charts its heroine’s journey across several decades, each segment reflecting the pressures and desires of the time.
Actor Zhao Tao—Jia’s wife and frequent collaborator—appears in each of the films in this collection, beginning with the hybrid documentary 24 City (2008), which utilizes performers and interviewees to examine three generations of Chinese history. The star gives one of her most iconic performances in Ash is Purest White (2018), playing a wronged moll in a sprawling, chromatically charged gangster epic set at the dawn of China’s capitalist rush. Tracking the unrestrained forces of hyper-modernization, Jia’s films stubbornly insist on the value of individual stories of human resilience.

The leading chronicler of his homeland&#8217;s rapid transformation, Jia Zhangke is among the most acclaimed of China&#8217;s Sixth Generation directors. Encompassing both documentary and fiction filmmaking, Jia&#8217;s cinema interrogates the nature of social and economic shifts, anatomising how their repercussions are felt at both a human and an environmental level. With his latest film Caught by the Tides (2024) premiering at this year&#8217;s Cannes Film Festival, we&#8217;re looking back at some of his most acclaimed features.
A political firebomb that the Chinese government tried to suppress, A Touch of Sin (2013) took the Best Screenplay prize in Cannes for its singular combination of arthouse neorealism and visceral kung-fu vengeance. The grand melodrama Mountains May Depart (2015), meanwhile, charts its heroine&#8217;s journey across several decades, each segment reflecting the pressures and desires of the time.
Actor Zhao Tao&#8212;Jia&#8217;s wife and frequent collaborator&#8212;appears in each of the films in this collection, beginning with the hybrid documentary 24 City (2008), which utilizes performers and interviewees to examine three generations of Chinese history. The star gives one of her most iconic performances in Ash is Purest White (2018), playing a wronged moll in a sprawling, chromatically charged gangster epic set at the dawn of China&#8217;s capitalist rush. Tracking the unrestrained forces of hyper-modernization, Jia&#8217;s films stubbornly insist on the value of individual stories of human resilience.

Time Will Transform Mountains:  Films by Jia Zhangke

TIME WILL TRANSFORM MOUNTAINS:  FILMS BY JIA ZHANGKE

The leading chronicler of his homeland’s rapid transformation, Jia Zhangke is among the most acclaimed of China’s Sixth Generation directors. From kung-fu epics to grand melodramas, the films in this collection stubbornly insist on the value of individual stories of human resilience.

The leading chronicler of his homeland&#8217;s rapid transformation, Jia Zhangke is among the most acclaimed of China&#8217;s Sixth Generation directors. From kung-fu epics to grand melodramas, the films in this collection stubbornly insist on the value of individual stories of human resilience.