HE PING ZHAO FEI A R RAHMAN
INTRODUCTION BIOGRAPHY FILMOGRAPHY

HE PING - Writer / Director

      He Ping has with only a handful of films established himself not only as one of the leading directors in mainland China but also as a pioneer of an exciting new genre, the "Chinese Western." With his award-winning films Swordsman in Double Flag Town and Sun Valley, He Ping has put his very recognizable stamp on the remarkable world of recent Chinese film.

      Variety said of Swordsman in Double Flag Town: "There's never been a film quite like China's first western, where 'The Long Riders' meets 'Chariots Of Fire'...The 'Swordsman In Double-Flag Town' is a terrific action/romance western..." Of Sun Valley, the publication noted, "Aficionados of the American Western should get a kick out of 'Sun Valley,' a psychological noodle oater that makes the wilds of China's Gansu province look as familiar as Wyoming."

      He Ping is best known in the Chinese film world for these films which take place in China's vast and sparsely populated western provinces ¨C regions where for centuries the cultures of China and central Asia have met and mingled. But he also showed his range by garnering worldwide acclaim for the 1994 period domestic drama Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker.

      The world's top film festivals have honored He Ping and his films. The Berlin Film Festival awarded him the Young Director's Prize (for Swordsman in Double Flag Town) and a special mention (for Sun Valley). The San Sebastien International Film Festival also awarded him a special mention for Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker.

      When not directing films himself, He Ping is also an important figure working behind the scenes as a producer and supervisor with some of China's top directors. Currently the head of the Beijing office of Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, He Ping has been involved as executive producer or in other roles on such films as this year's Big Shot's Funeral, from director Feng Xiaogang, Double Vision, from director Chen Kuo Fu, and So Close, from director Cory Yuen.

      Before joining Columbia, he was also involved in a supervisory role in such well-known mainland productions as Be There or Be Square and Dreams Come True, both directed by Feng Xiaogang.

      Born in 1957, He Ping came up in the film industry step-by-step, working for several years as continuity person and assistant director before becoming a director.