Lu Chuan
Lu Chuan (陆川) is one of the Sixth Generation of Chinese film directors, best known for his movies “Mountain Patrol” (“Kekexili”) and “Nanking! Nanking!”.
Born in Xinjiang, on Feb. 8, 1971, Lu is the son of China’s famous author Lu Tianming (陆天明), and the nephew of the late writer Lu Xing’er (陆星儿).
At the age of five, Lu and his family moved to Beijing, where he grew up. In 1993, he graduated from the People’s Liberation Army Institute of International Relations and served in the army for the following two years.
However, showing an immense interest in cinematography, he applied at the Beijing Film Academy, to pursue a postgraduate degree, and eventually secured a spot in 1995. At the end of his studies, his paper “A Writer in the System” received a high score in 1998.
With a degree in directing, in 1999, his capability as a director was recognized with the 30-episode TV series “Black Hole”. His black comedy film “The Missing Gun”, nominated at the Venice Film Festival, also received favorable reviews from critics.
In 2004, the movie adaptation of his script “Mountain Patrol” or “Kekexili”（《可可西里》） swept many international awards, such as the Special Jury Prize from the Tokyo International Film Festival. Thanks to the movie, Lu was crowned as one of the world’s top 10 young directors by Variety, a weekly entertainment magazine.
On April 22, 2009, his first warfare blockbuster “Nanking! Nanking!” was premiered. In spite of the controversy in China, the film was deemed a big success in both the national and international film circles.It won several world’s acclaimed awards, including the Golden Shell for the Best Film of the 57th San Sebastian International Film Festival, the Best Director in the Third Asia Pacific Film Festival and the Best Director of the Asian Film Awards in the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Besides, it outperformed its competitive Iranian contestant “A Separation”, winning the Best Foreign Language Film of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which bestowed much prestige on Lu for his ability as a director.
In addition to shooting movies, Lu has also tried directing the opening ceremonies for several big events in China. In 2006, he was invited as the art supervisor of the opening ceremony of the Shanghai Special Olympics. In 2009, he was the art supervisor of the Chinese Hall of the spectacular Shanghai Expo. On May 1, 2010, his eight-minute short film “Footprints”（《历程》）was premiered in the theater of the Chinese Hall of the Shanghai Expo. In September 2012, he directed the gala “Attraction”, which was staged 16 times at the Beijing National Stadium (Bird’s Nest).
In September2012, his forth epic film “the Last Supper” starring Daniel Wu, Liu Ye, Zhang Zhen and Qin Lan, was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The highly contentious movie, which explores the human nature, was based on the “Hongmen Banquet”, an ancient Chinese historic event, in the post-Qin (221-206 BC) era.
Films:
2002: “The Missing Gun”, screenwriter and director
2004: “Mountain Patrol” (“Kekexili”), screenwriter and director
2009: “Nanking! Nanking!”, screenwriter, director and executive producer
2011: “the Last Supper”, screenwriter, director and producer
