Ying Ning

Ning Ying is a prominent Chinese director, screenwriter and producer based in Beijing. She has been defined by Harvard's Nieman Reports as "China's premiere woman director," and Peter Keough from The Boston Phoenix refers her as "one of her country's major talents." She graduated from Beijing Film Academy and then from Italy's National Film School. While studying in Rome she befriended Bernardo Bertolucci; he later hired her as assistant director for THE LAST EMPEROR. She completed a fellowship at Harvard University and was awarded to the Order of the Star of Italy for excellence in the arts. The Peace Women Across the Globe Association nominated her among 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1990 she directed her first film, the comedy blockbuster SOMEONE LOVES JUST ME, soon followed by her internationally acclaimed "Beijing Trilogy": FOR FUN/1992, ON THE BEAT/1995 and I LOVE BEIJING/2000. According to Harvard's Nieman Report, it represents "both a historical document of the transformation of the filmmaker's native city and her cinematic eulogy to a form of life that is rapidly vanishing" and received many prestigious international awards, making her a pioneer of Chinese urban cinema. In 2002 her RAILROAD OF HOPE won first prize at the Cinema du Reel in Paris. Jean Michael Frodon wrote: her cinema "foreshadows the urban minimalist fictions that represent the most meaningful advances of the next generation of Chinese cinema d'auteur, from Zhang Yuan to Jia Zhang-ke, to Wang Chao." In 2005 PERPETUAL MOTION was presented at Venice Int. Film Festival and was regarded by Giovanna Fulvi as "undoubtedly a turning point as concerns the women's image in Chinese cinema", as well as "a milestone for women in the new Chinese cinema." Cristina Piccino has also referred her film style as "a poetic and political borderline cinema, having a Rossellini's style passion for mixing fiction with reality... in such sense Ning Ying was a 'mentor' for Jia Zhang-ke's generation" In 2013, her TO LIVE AND DIE IN ORDOS, a film that is highly appreciated by Yoshihiko Yatabe as "an aspect of China's contemporary history" and was awarded Best Actor at Tokyo International Film Festival, China HuaBiao Award for best picture, best film at China WuGeYi Best Works Award, and best screenwriter at China Filmmaker's Association Award. Ning Ying has been a jury member at numerous International Film Festivals, including Berlin, Locarno, Torino, Tokyo film-ex, Yamagata. She is the head of Film Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts - College of City Design.