Sheng Zhimin is a Chinese filmmaker from Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. Unlike other directors to emerge in recent years, Sheng has had no formal training. He instead began his career as a line producer

Line producer

A line producer is the key manager during the daily operations of a motion picture production.The line producer supports the vision given by the director but does not have direct influence on the creative expression or narrative of the film....

, screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

, and assistant director for other filmmakers like Jia Zhangke

Jia Zhangke

Jia Zhangke is a Chinese film director. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Yuan....

, Fruit Chan

Fruit Chan

Fruit Chan Gor is an independent Hong Kong Second Wave screenwriter, filmmaker and producer, who is best known for his style of film reflecting the everyday life of Hong Kong people. He is well known for using amateur actors in his films...

 and Zhang Yang. In these positions, Sheng worked on the films Spicy Love Soup

Spicy Love Soup

Spicy Love Soup is a 1997 Chinese film directed by Zhang Yang and written by Zhang, Liu Fendou, Cai Shangjun, and Diao Yi'nan based on a story by Zhang and Peter Loehr...

, Durian Durian

Durian Durian

Durian Durian is a 2000 Hong Kong film directed by Fruit Chan. The film portrays the experiences of a young girl and her sex worker neighbour in Hong Kong.-Plot:...

, Public Toilet

Public Toilet (film)

Public Toilet is a 2002 movie by Hong Kong director Fruit Chan, his first in digital format. The story talks about a Beijing man, "Dong-dong", who was born in a toilet...

, and Platform.

Bliss

Sheng's first, and so far only directorial effort was 2006's Bliss

Bliss (2006 film)

Bliss is a 2006 Chinese family drama film directed by Sheng Zhimin and produced by Hong Kong director Fruit Chan. The film was Sheng's first as a director, having previously served as a line producer for Chan and Jia Zhangke on films such as Durian Durian and Platform.Though primarily a mainland...

, a family drama set in the central Chinese city of Chongqing

Chongqing

Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...

.

Bliss premiered at the 2006 Locarno International Film Festival

Locarno International Film Festival

The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...

 where it won the NETPAC award, and had its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival

2006 Toronto International Film Festival

The 2006 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 7 to September 16, 2006. Opening the festival was Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, a film that "explores the history of the Inuit people through the eyes of a father and daughter."In a press release...

. It also screened at the 2007 Shanghai International Film Festival

2007 Shanghai International Film Festival

The 2007 Shanghai International Film Festival was the 10th such festival devoted to international cinema to be held in the city of Shanghai in the People's Republic of China. It was held from June 16 to June 24, 2007...

, where it picked up a best picture prize for the New Talent side-competition.

Influences

Sheng lists Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull and Edward Yang

Edward Yang

Edward Yang , along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming Liang, was one of the leading filmmakers of the Taiwanese New Wave and Taiwanese Cinema. He won the Best Director Award at Cannes for his 2000 film Yi Yi .-Biography:...

's Yi Yi as important influences in his directorial style. He also considers Jia Zhangke

Jia Zhangke

Jia Zhangke is a Chinese film director. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Yuan....

, Fruit Chan

Fruit Chan

Fruit Chan Gor is an independent Hong Kong Second Wave screenwriter, filmmaker and producer, who is best known for his style of film reflecting the everyday life of Hong Kong people. He is well known for using amateur actors in his films...

, and Yasujiro Ozu

Yasujiro Ozu

was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...

 among his favorite filmmakers.

External links

• Sheng Zhimin at Cinemasie