The World of Jia Zhangke

by Jean-Michel Frodon, Dudley Andrew (Foreword)

Named 3rd best book of 2021 in Sight & Sound magazine A comprehensive look at the work of Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke by celebrated critic Jean-Michel Frodon. Includes an extensive in-depth interview with Jia, essays on each of his films, conversations with his main collaborators, including Zhao Tao, and a selection of his own writings. Translated from the French by Sally Shafto. Foreword by Dudley Andrew. Afterword by Walter Salles. “ The World of Jia Zhangke is a rarity, for it comes from a sustained encounter of one of our greatest critics with one of our greatest directors. Thankfully both are still working at full tilt.”—Dudley Andrew

Genres: Film

267 pages, Hardcover

Published August 31, 2021

About the author

Jean-Michel Frodon was born and raised in Paris. One might say he was also born and raised in cinema, since both his parents worked in the field. He studied history, became an educator, then a photographer, before becoming a film critic and journalist almost by accident (if such things can happen). A former senior film editor for Le Point and Le Monde, he was also editor-in-chief of Cahiers du cinéma (2003-2009). He now writes for the online magazine Slate.fr. A relentless traveller, always willing to connect the far to the nearby, the aesthetic with the political, he teaches at Sciences Po in Paris, at the ancient University of St Andrews, Scotland, and at the Film Factory created by Béla Tarr in Sarajevo. He is the author or editor of books dedicated to film history, theory, French and Chinese cinema, and on several directors, including: La Projection nationale (1998), Conversation avec Woody Allen (2000), Hou Hsiao-hsien (2005), Horizon cinéma (2006), Le Cinéma chinois (2006), Robert Bresson (2008), Gilles Deleuze et les images (2008), La Critique de cinéma (2008), Amos Gitai, Genèses (2009), Cinema and the Shoah (2010), Le Cinéma d Edward Yang (2010), Le Cinéma français, de la Nouvelle Vague à nos jours (2010), Assayas par Assayas (2014), L Art du cinéma (2014), O Mundo de Jia Zhang-ke (2014) and Que fait le cinéma ? (2015).

Reviews

[Thrasymachus · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent study of the work of a vital 21st century artist.