Ning Ying 宁瀛

Ning Ying (b. Beijing, 1959) is an independent woman filmmaker and screenwriter who has become a leading representative of contemporary Chinese neorealist (新现实主义) cinema. Ning Ying entered the Beijing Film Academy in 1978 and is a graduate of the Fifth Generation class of 1982. From 1982 to 1986 she studied film in Italy and served as assistant director of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor. After initially assisting other directors, she made her directorial debut in 1990 with a comedy feature called Somebody Loves Just Me (有人偏偏爱上我). Ning Ying is best known for her Beijing trilogy: For Fun (找乐) (1992), On the Beat (民警故事) (1995), and I Love Beijing (夏日暖洋洋) (2000). For Fun is about retirees trying to set up a Peking opera group; On the Beat is a police movie in which policeman Yang (杨) is ordered to exterminate all the neighbourhood dogs, and discovers that the social system is the enemy; I Love Beijing follows the life and loves of a young taxi driver. Her semi-documentary storytelling, use of mostly amateur actors, and appropriate technique paints a realistic picture of the contemporary Beijing of ordinary people. Her combination of social criticism and wit has become a hallmark of Ning Ying’s art as a filmmaker, screenwriter and editor, and makes her a unique ‘Fifth Generation’ director.