Zhang Lu

Directing·May 30, 1962·Yanbian, Jilin, China

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Zhang Lü (Chinese: 张律; pinyin: Zhāng Lǜ; Korean: 장률; born May 30, 1962; Yanbian, Jilin) is a Korean-Chinese filmmaker. Zhang was originally a novelist before embarking on a career in cinema. His arthouse films have mostly focused on the disenfranchised, particularly ethnic Koreans living in China; these include Grain in Ear (2006), Desert Dream (2007), Dooman River (2011), Scenery (2013), and Gyeongju (2014). Zhang Lü is a third-generation ethnic Korean born in Yanbian, Jilin, China in 1962. He first became known in his native land China as a respected author of novels and short stories, such as Cicada Chirping Afternoon (1986). Zhang moved to South Korea in 2012, and began teaching at Yonsei University. Zhang was then a 38-year-old professor of Chinese Literature at Yanbian University when an argument with a film director friend led him to take a bet that "anyone can make a film." With no technical training but with the support of film industry friends such as Lee Chang-dong, he set out to direct his first short film Eleven (2001), a fourteen-minute nearly silent vignette of an eleven-year-old boy's encounter with a group of soccer players his own age set in a post-industrial wasteland. Eleven was invited to compete at the 58th Venice International Film Festival and several other international film festivals, and this unexpected success made Zhang decide to become a full-time filmmaker.

Film	Credit
Mothertongue2025 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Gloaming in Luomu2025 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Shadowless Tower2023 · Writer, Director, Screenplay	Writer, Director, Screenplay
The Element of Hope2022 · Producer	Producer
Usu2022 · Producer	Producer
Yanagawa2022 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Fukuoka2020 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
Ode to the Goose2018 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
A Quiet Dream2016 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Love and...2015 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Gyeongju2014 · Producer, Director, Writer	Producer, Director, Writer
Scenery2013 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Strangers2013 · Director	Director
OOver There2013 · Director	Director
Jury2013 · Writer	Writer
Don't Expect Praises2012 · Producer	Producer
Lost in the Mountain2011 · Producer	Producer
Winter Vacation2011 · Producer	Producer
Dooman River2010 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Chongqing2008 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Iri2008 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Routine Holiday2008 · Producer	Producer
Desert Dream2007 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Grain in Ear2005 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Tang Poetry2003 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Eleven2000 · Director	Director