Dai Sijie

Dai Sijie

Dai Sijie, born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province on March 2, 1954, is a Chinese American director, screenwriter and writer in France.

In 2000, Dai Sijie published his first novel Balzac and the little Chinese tailor in France, and won the literary screenplay Creation Award of the second Italian Film Festival; in 2002, he acted as and directed the film Balzac and the little Chinese tailor, which premiered in the opening film of the 55th Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the best foreign language film of the 61st American Golden Globe Award; in 2003, Dai Sijie published his first novel Balzac and the little Chinese tailor in France Balzac and the Chinese tailor has a circulation of more than 1 million, and its English paperback has been on the best seller list of New York Times Book review weekly for 10 weeks. In October of the same year, Balzac published his second novel "Di's complex" and won the French literary Fermina award. In 2006, Balzac directed the same-sex themed film "botanist's daughter" and won the most popular film award of Montreal Film Festival. In 2015, Balzac published his second novel "Di's complex" In 2016, he directed the romantic film "night Peacock", which was shortlisted in the Asian film window unit of the 20th Pusan International Film Festival; in 2016, his film "night Peacock" was shortlisted in the main competition unit of the 40th Montreal Film Festival and won the best Chinese film gold award.

Character experience

Early experience

In 1971, Dai Sijie, as an educated youth, settled down in the mountainous area of Yingjing County, Ya'an, Sichuan Province for re education. In 1974, he ended his life in Ya'an and was admitted to the History Department of Sichuan University in 1977;

In 1982, Dai Sijie was admitted to the first batch of graduate students sent abroad by the state. Later, he was admitted to the Department of Western art history of Nankai University to study for a master's degree. After a year and a half of tutoring in Western cultural history, art history and French, he went to France to study at the end of 1983;

In 1984, Dai Sijie was admitted to the art school of the first university of Paris and the Louvre school in France to study art history and pursue a doctorate in directing. One year later, he took the examination of the French National Academy of higher film and studied film for three years. After graduation, he settled in France and began to shoot TV series and films;

In 1985, when he was studying at the French Academy of art, he made his first film, the temple of the mountains, and won the young director's short film award at the Venice Film Festival.

Writing experience

In 1974, when he was in Yingjing County, Sichuan Province, Dai Sijie sent his novel to Shen Congwen, who sent back the revised version circled by himself with a brush. Later, he always encouraged Dai Sijie to write, but warned him not to rush to publish. The only time, Shen Congwen took the initiative to ask Dai Sijie to publish one or two works. In 1982, there was a journal called Huacheng. Dai Sijie selected an article to be published by the editor in chief, but it was returned;

In 2000, Dai Sijie's first novel Balzac and the little Chinese tailor, which is based on the life of educated youth and written in French, was published in France and sold to 500000 copies. It soon had different versions in more than 20 countries. It was sold in 19 countries and won five awards. He won the literary screenplay Creation Award at the second Italian greenzane Cavalier Film Festival;

In 2003, Balzac and the little tailor of China had a circulation of more than 1 million, and its English paperback version was on the best-selling list of New York Times Book review weekly for 10 weeks. In October of the same year, he published his second novel, the complex of Mr. di (also known as the complex of Mr. DI), and won the French literary Fermina award. Meanwhile, he was nominated for the French gonggul prize and Medici prize There are two literary awards;

In January 2007, Dai Sijie's third novel, a night before the moon rises, was published.

Director experience

In 1985, after graduating from the French Academy of art, he directed the cowshed, the man swallowing the moon and other French films. In addition, he also wrote two TV dramas reflecting Chinese life, return my name and Zhang Wang, Li Zhao and others, both of which have been shot and broadcast;

In 2002, the first film "Balzac and the little tailor", edited and directed by Dai Sijie, was allowed to be shot in China. The film premiered as the opening film of the 55th Cannes Film Festival. The next year, the film nominated the best foreign language film of the 61st Golden Globe Awards and participated in the 25th French Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival in Hong Kong;

In 2006, after three years of preparation, Dai Sijie began to write and direct the same-sex film botanist's daughter. However, due to the sensitive theme, it did not become a co production of China and France, but turned to Vietnam shooting with similar film background. In fact, in 2003, Dai Sijie had already gone to Vietnam to choose the location. However, due to SARS, he had to postpone it. After SARS, he was unable to find an actress with the right temperament and schedule. Three years later, he finally locked in the mainland actor Li Xiaoran. In the same year, the film won the most popular film award of Montreal Film Festival. After shooting the botanist's daughter, Dai Sijie returned to France and began to write novels again. Because it took a lot of time to write novels in French, he wrote them very slowly, only one in two or three years;

In 2012, when Dai Sijie returned to take care of his parents, he Shiping, director of Emei film studio, invited him to take part in the film "night Peacock";

In 2013, Dai Sijie and the poet Beidao were nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature as Chinese writers;

In 2015, Dai Sijie directed the romantic film night peacock, which was shortlisted in the Asian film window unit of the 20th Pusan International Film Festival. In July of the same year, he won the 22nd Giuseppe acerbi international literature award for his novel Balzac and the Chinese tailor. In August, he directed night peacock, which was shortlisted in the main competition unit of the 40th Montreal Film Festival, His "night Peacock" won the best Chinese film gold award at the 40th Montreal Film Festival;

In 2017, he directed the love movie dream hunter.

Main works

literary works

Directing works

Award winning record

Character evaluation

It's unexpected that Dai Sijie can make such a delicate and lyrical love film as Balzac and the little tailor. Dai Sijie is an elusive person. Every creation of Dai Sijie has its own style and temperament. Sometimes his readers will be annoyed by his willfulness, but they have to admire his energy and creativity. He also enjoys the pleasure of playing hide and seek with readers (Netease online review).

Director Dai is a very natural director. I really like his attitude towards life and his understanding of Art (comments by actor Liu Yifei).

Dai Sijie's calm and detached style combines the western modern narrative strategy and the eastern traditional thought. The complex of Di is more complicated and ingenious in the structure of the novel, more mature and rich in writing style, and fuller in language. We should grasp the passion of Chinese tailor from the point of view of the theme of "Chinese tailor" and "phoenix".

Chinese PinYin : Dai Si Jie