PRODUCTION BACKGROUND
The feature-length documentary film is dedicated to revealing the unknown history and untold life stories of Chang Dai-chien, in order to present a complete image of a world-class artist and fill the blank he left in the art history. More importantly, this film will reflect how political and historical forces could impact an artist's life and creative experience.
In the past 12 years, director Weimin Zhang has accomplished intensive research and interviews in the U.S, Brazil, France, Germany, Austria, Taiwan, Japan and many regions of China. Weimin and her team have traveled and filmed over 200 hours of interviews of Chang's close families, friends, disciples, scholars, collectors, and artists throughout the world. Moreover, she uncovered and secured a great deal of valuable rarely seen an unknown visual and audio materials from India to Argentina; from Brazil to California, Japan, Taiwan, and Europe.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR WEIMIN ZHANG
“Scoots faster than many people can run,” commented by the San Francisco Chronicle, Weimin Zhang is an award-winning filmmaker and professional cinematographer, one of China’s Sixth Generation filmmakers, and graduated from Beijing Film Academy in Cinematography. Since 1991, Weimin has worked on numerous award-winning feature films, documentaries, TV drama series in both China and the U.S.
In 1997, she came to the U.S. and earned two masters degrees in Film Production and Multimedia Design from Ohio University. The award-winning feature films that she worked as director of photography include Grandfather Ge, The Homebound Crane, and CEO. Nushu – The Secret Writing of Women in China won the best documentary film at 8th Torino International Women’s Film Festival, Italy in 1999. Her feature documentary film, The House of Spirit has won numerous awards in international film festivals. In 2007, The Library of Congress (Asian Division) acquisition her interactive multimedia DVD-Rom, Nushu – The Women’s Secret Writing for permanent preservation in its collection as a scholarly research project.
Today, she is a professor at San Francisco State University, teaching cinematography and documentary production. Currently, except working on the Chang Dai-chien film project, she has just finished a feature documentary film Missing Home, a story about Beijing Hutongs told through the close and personal experiences of a director raised in these disappearing neighborhoods.