The Value Turn in Zhang Jiarui’s Yunnan Trilogy

Abstract

Zhang Jiarui’s three films: When Ruoma Was Seventeen (2003), Huoyao Bride in Shangrila (2005) and Red River (2009), are often referred as the ‘Yunnan Trilogy’. Because they are based on the Yunnan minority and all three films were directed by Zhang Jiarui and written by Meng Jiazong. All these three films were produced in the first decade of the 21st century. To a certain extent they have a more stable pattern of change in terms of the director’s personal artistic experience. Reflects the value turn in the creator’s creative philosophy, I consider the three films as a system, examining their changes over from the perspectives of ethnicity and commerciality. This individual phenomenon of the creators may serve as a symptom of the changes in minority films in the new century of China.