Huang Ji

Huang Ji is an award-winning independent filmmaker based in Beijing. Born in 1984 in Hunan Province, Huang made her name by focusing on the sexual exploits of China’s so-called “left-behind children” (a phenomenon when rural parents leave behind their children to move to urban areas in search of better jobs) in her debut feature Egg and Stone (2012), which she made exclusively with non-professional actors in her hometown. Filmed with the help of her cinematographer husband Ryuji Ozuka, the semi-autobiographical film shocked China and grabbed headlines at international film festivals, and won the Hivos Tiger Award for Best Feature Film at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. The Foolish Bird (2017), Huang’s second feature and a sequel of sorts to her first, was just nominated for competition and will premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival (in the Generation 14Plus category), on February 12, 2017. The film concerns a love-deprived 16-year-old girl fending for herself surrounded by corruption, sexual violence and omnipresence of new media in a small town, after being left behind by her parents.