Zhang Lu
Born: 1962-05-30 in Yanbian, Jilin, China
Known For: Directing
Biography
Zhang Lü (Chinese: 张律; pinyin: Zhāng Lǜ; Korean: 장률; born May 30, 1962; Yanbian, Jilin) is a Korean-Chinese filmmaker. Zhang was originally a novelist before embarking on a career in cinema. His arthouse films have mostly focused on the disenfranchised, particularly ethnic Koreans living in China; these include Grain in Ear (2006), Desert Dream (2007), Dooman River (2011), Scenery (2013), and Gyeongju (2014). Zhang Lü is a third-generation ethnic Korean born in Yanbian, Jilin, China in 1962. He first became known in his native land China as a respected author of novels and short stories, such as Cicada Chirping Afternoon (1986). Zhang moved to South Korea in 2012, and began teaching at Yonsei University. Zhang was then a 38-year-old professor of Chinese Literature at Yanbian University when an argument with a film director friend led him to take a bet that "anyone can make a film." With no technical training but with the support of film industry friends such as Lee Chang-dong, he set out to direct his first short film Eleven (2001), a fourteen-minute nearly silent vignette of an eleven-year-old boy's encounter with a group of soccer players his own age set in a post-industrial wasteland. Eleven was invited to compete at the 58th Venice International Film Festival and several other international film festivals, and this unexpected success made Zhang decide to become a full-time filmmaker.
Filmography
2025
- Gloaming in Luomu ... (Director)
- Mothertongue ... (Director)
2023
- The Shadowless Tower ... (Presenter)
2022
- Yanagawa ... (Director)
- The Element of Hope ... (Producer)
- Usu ... (Producer)
2020
- Fukuoka ... (Director)
2019
- Vanishing Days ... (Consulting Producer)
2018
- Ode to the Goose ... (Director)
2016
- A Quiet Dream ... (Director)
2015
- Love and... ... (Director)
2014
- Gyeongju ... (Producer)
2013
- Strangers ... (Director)
- Jury ... (Writer)
- Scenery ... (Writer)
- Over There ... (Director)
2012
- Don't Expect Praises ... (Producer)
2011
- Winter Vacation ... (Producer)
- Lost in the Mountain ... (Producer)
2010
- 神探狄仁杰前传 ... (Writer)
- Dooman River ... (Writer)
2008
- Iri ... (Writer)
- Routine Holiday ... (Producer)
- Chongqing ... (Director)
2007
- Desert Dream ... (Writer)
2005
- Grain in Ear ... (Writer)
2003
- Tang Poetry ... (Editor)
2000
- Eleven ... (Director)