Creative sparks of a burning passion

Before starting his career as a film director, Xie Jin studied in four drama and film schools. His mentors included many notable figures in modern Chinese drama and film history, such as Cao Yu, Hong Shen, Jiao Juyin, Ma Yanxiang and Chen Liting. He worked as a stage manager, writer and actor before joining the Changjiang Film Studio and Shanghai Film Studio.

Xie once said he was greatly influenced by Chinese directors from the 1930s, such as Cai Chusheng, Sun Yu and Shen Xiling. The American directors he most admired were John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy, because Ford used spectacular staging, and LeRoy was adept at character depiction.

But his greatest influence was no doubt Soviet cinema. Among the Soviets, he most admired Mikhail Romm, Sergi Gerassimov, Yuli Raizman, Grigori Chukhrai and Sergei Eisenstein. The neorealist films of Italy were among his favorites, too. He had seen The Bicycle Thief and Rome Eleven O'clock about 70 times.