Most of the films of internationally acclaimed director Zhang Yimou are adaptations of literary work, which he feels is the origin of his creativity:1
Without good literary works, it could be difficult to produce good films. Films are not constitutive of actions only. Motion without thoughts can only be dead actions. In my films, those images that have touched people deeply are mostly originated from literature. And such literary experience has inspired me.2
In the case of Red Sorghum (China, 1987), internationally acclaimed director Zhang Yimou reasoned that he would give the author of the novel, Nobel laureate Mo Yan, and screenwriter Chen Jianyu first crack at the “literary script” of Red Sorghum, a woman’s ...
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