In 1978, Tian joined the first class of the Beijing Film Academy to major in directing since the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). While at the academy, Tian got the chance to watch a number of films from China and other countries like France, Italy and Britain.
"Because colleges had been closed for so long, our professors had not taught in 10 years. They told us that all they could do was to show us films," Tian says. "So we often boarded a bus to the Beijing Film Archive and watched movies. It was great! We had the freedom to see whatever we wanted and dream about what we wanted to do in the future. We knew nothing about films. All we had was passion, and we became passionate about filmmaking. We loved European films and art-house movies then," he says.
Regularly cited as the group which brought Chinese films to the world stage, the Fifth Generation, Tian says, is a collection of filmmakers of a rare pedigree.
"The filmmakers of the Fifth Generation, as we were later called, were unique because we had some bumpy and uneasy experiences before actually becoming directors, witnessing the dramatic changes in society.
"I, for one, had something I really wanted to tell people, a message. My generation of film directors chose to fight to do what we wanted to do, instead of what others told us. We have a rebellious spirit and are very keen on new expressive ways and new thoughts, striving to find a new angle for each of the movies."
Horse Thief (1986), which Tian wrote and directed, displayed the vast panoramas of Tibet and marked a radical break from the aesthetic of earlier Chinese films. Rather than telling stories about the liberation of ethnic minorities, Tian, in On the Hunting Ground, for example, emphasizes the relationship between the land and the people. Long shots and long takes dominate; the landscape overpowers any identification with individual characters; the dialogue is minimal and social rituals remain unexplained.
Like Chen Kaige's Yellow Earth (Huang Tudi), On the Hunting Ground presents a visually stunning treatment of a remote China, told in a challenging, enigmatic style.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Tian directed three popular movies: Drum Singer (1987), Rock'n'Roll Kids (1988), and Li Lianying: The Imperial Eunuch (1991), diverging from his earlier works that highly valued purely artistic pursuits. Tian's other films include Red Elephant (1982), The Blue Kite (1991), and Springtime in a Small Town (2002).
"It is hard to tell what is inspiration. It can be developed from a concept flashing in my mind for just one second, or it can be developed from a sentence as well as a picture," Tian says.
Besides his feature works, Tian has also dabbled in documentary making. Delamu (2004) examines a 1,000-year-old route, which is a path that winds through the mountains of Yunnan province. The film made its North American premiere at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
"You never know when you will be inspired and when you can start filming. I went to Yunnan five times before I started filming there," Tian says.
"Wherever I go to a place, the first thing I will know is the time of the sunrise and the sunset," he says.
Apart from making his own films, Tian currently serves as the head of the directing department of Beijing Film Academy.
"My accidental encounter with film has turned out to be my lifetime pursuit and love. It is just like a dog running for bones. I view film as a necessity in life. Film makes me serene."
Editor:Wang Nan
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