The Berlinale: Close Up on ‘Black Coal, Thin Ice’ Winning Director and Lead Actor

By andofotherthings · On 4 Mar, 2014

& Of Other Things takes a look at the artists who won the Golden Bear for Best Picture and the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 64th Berlinale.

Bai Rai Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice)

Director Diao Yinan
Black Coal, Thin Ice is an atmospheric, dark and dreamlike detective thriller set on the snowy streets and cavernous factories of provincial northern China. The Berlinale winning film is the third feature film from Sixth Generation director Diao Yinan.

Also described as ‘urban filmmakers’ the Sixth Generation cinema makers focus on social issues, have an improvised style and have typically filmed on video, to avoid China’s strict rules around film, giving a gritty lo-fi look. Diao’s films, while not political, show a darker side of life in China. He wants, he says, to make films that show people’s problems and ‘detail the changes that people are going through in their lives. Society goes forward as a whole, but a lot of people are left behind.’

Diao’s first feature film was Uniform; about an unemployed tailor who, desperate to escape the poverty of his life, masquerades as a policeman. It won the Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema at the 2003 Vancouver International Film Festival.

His second directing endeavour, Night Train, tells the story of a female prison guard who unknowingly begins a relationship with the widower of a woman she helped execute. The widower is torn between lust and vengeance. It was shown in the 2007 Un Certain Regard competition at the Cannes Film Festival, won the Grand Prix at the 2007 Warsaw International Film Fest and took home three awards at the 2008 Buenos Aires International Festival. Diao has said he wants to show both good and evil and help people ‘feel less alone with our dark sides’.

The 45 year old studied at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. He began his career as a playwright but moved into film in frustration after his play was cancelled because authorities did not agree with its content. He was a screenwriter for directors Shi Runjiu and Zhang Yang in the late 90s before becoming a director himself.

Actor Liao Fan

Silver Bear award winner Liao plays the classic film noir detective – an alcoholic, insomniac failure – but one who falls desperately in love with his main murder suspect allowing his character more scope for emotions than the typical hard-nosed cop role gives.

Liao was perhaps somewhat of an unexpected winner. Apart from a best actor nomination in Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Awards for international art house drama Ocean Flame, and despite being in numerous high profile films including Chinese action blockbusters Assembly and Chinese Zodiac, in the past his performances haven’t attracted much attention.

He is however a prolific actor who has tackled over 50 roles in his acting career, gaining a reputation for ability to play a diverse range of characters.

Liao Fan was brought up around theatre. His father Liao Binyan was an actor, and at one point, the head of the Hunan provincial repertory theater. Liao Fan concentrated on theatre roles upon graduation from the Shanghai Theater Academy.

Liao was at a low point in his life when offered the role in Black Coal, Thin Ice; he was recovering from a serious accident – Liao had to have 12 pins inserted after falling from a horse during filming an epic about the Communist Party in China. Born on Valentine’s Day in 1974, the actor collected the Silver Bear award the day before his 40^th birthday.