Film fraternity mourns death of 'godfather' of China's filmmakers

Without Wu Tianming, renowned film directors such as Zhang Yimou and Huang Jianxin would have had a much more difficult time entering China's film industry and the film revolution created by the so-called "Fifth Generation" might not have happened or at least would not have taken the shape that it did.

Wu Tianming, the enabler of a major chapter in the history of Chinese cinema, died on March 4 from heart failure. He was 75.

The native of Shaanxi province started making movies in the late 1970s. He was immersed in the traditional style known as "social realism" with many of his stories portraying rural life as unvarnished and bleak, yet totally different from the ones made by his proteges shortly afterwards.