A reel pioneer

He's been called China's Guy Ritchie and likened to Quentin Tarantino, but his dream is to become the country's Steven Spielberg.

Ning Hao is best known as director of Crazy Stone (Fengkuang de Shitou), a black comedy and dark horse that galloped into 2006's domestic box office with resounding triumph.

The film about a precious jade piece, and those who want to protect, steal and rub it, was immensely popular. The 3-million-yuan ($490,000) production raked in 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) in revenue.