Jia Zhangke Hails ‘Explosion of Chinese Talent’ at Pingyao Masterclass With Bi Gan, Huo Meng and Cai Shangjun

The Pingyao International Film Festival staged one of its most closely watched events this week, a masterclass that brought together three of China’s most celebrated filmmakers — Bi Gan, Huo Meng and Cai Shangjun — with Cannes’ deputy general delegate Christian Jeune and programmer Jacob Wong.

Festival founder, Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke, who moderated the session, set the tone by declaring 2025 “an explosion of Chinese talent,” citing the extraordinary run of Chinese films across Europe’s most prestigious competitions.

That surge has been historic: Huo Meng’s “Living the Land” took best director at the Berlin Film Festival, Bi Gan’s “Resurrection” earned the jury special prize at Cannes, and Cai Shangjun’s “The Sun Rises on Us All” yielded a best actress award in Venice for Xin Zhilei. For Jia, the convergence at Pingyao underscored what he described as “a golden moment” for Chinese cinema, as young filmmakers carve out…