Lou Ye

Lou Ye (pinyin:Lóu Yè;Wade–Giles:Lou Yeh), born 1965, is a Chinese filmmaker. A leading figure of China's Sixth Generation of directors, Lou is known for his art-house vérité films about modern China, which often run afoul of Chinese censors. In June 2018, Lou became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Career

Born in Shanghai, Lou was educated at the Beijing Film Academy. In 1993, he made his first film Weekend Lover, but it was not released until two years later, having its world premiere at the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg where it received the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Award. Between completion and premiere of Weekend Lover he made and released Don't Be Young, a thriller about a girl who takes her nightmares as real, in 1994. Lou, however, did not gain international prominence until his third film, the neo-noir Suzhou River. That film dealt with questions of identity and proved quite controversial upon its release in China. Upon its release, international audiences praised Suzhou River, which several critics felt evoked Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, particularly in how both films focus on a man obsessed with a mysterious woman.

Lou—along with actress Nai An—founded the independent production company Dream Factory in 1998, which would go on to produce most of Lou's films.

In 2003 Lou released Purple Butterfly starring Zhang Ziyi. The film is a tale of revenge and betrayal taking place during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, with a complex narrative structure borrowing heavily from film noir traditions.

Lou's next film, Summer Palace (2006), a story of two lovers in the backdrop of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, again brought Lou into conflict with Chinese authorities, resulting in a five-year ban for both him and his producer. In order to circumvent the ban, his next film, Spring Fever, was shot surreptitiously in Nanjing and registered as a Hong Kong-French coproduction to avoid censors. The film was shown in competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival where writer Mei Feng won the Best Screenplay Award.

Censorship in China

Lou Ye's films have proven controversial in their content, and often deal with issues of sexuality, gender, and obsession. Government censors banned his first film Weekend Lover for two years, while his breakout film Suzhou River was banned (with Lou receiving a 2-year ban from filmmaking) but has since been authorized in China.

Later, after Lou submitted Summer Palace to the 2006 Cannes Film Festival without approval from Chinese censors, he was banned from film-making again, this time for five years. The film itself was also banned, though according to Lou this was because it was not up to the SARFT's standards for picture and sound quality.

Lou also had to re-edit his film The Shadow Play for two years before he was granted a distribution license in mainland China. The film's plot centers on the investigation of a corruption scandal, inspired by real events in Xiancun. It also touches upon the issue of forced evictions of urban villages in Guangzhou during China's reform and opening up.

His 2024 film portraying pandemic lockdowns, called "An Unfinished Film", was released abroad and is unavailable in China.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

External links

• atIMDb