Cao Baoping (; born January 2, 1962) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter, and producer, a Beijing Film Academy (BFA) graduate and current Professor in Screenwriting.
As a veteran storyteller of China's film noir and crime film genre, he received multiple accolades including Altadis New Directors Award at the 56th San Sebastian International Film Festival, Best Director at the 18th and 27th Shanghai International Film Festival and the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Film. In 2017 and 2019, he served as a jury member for the 20th Shanghai International Film Festival and 9th Beijing International Film Festival respectively.
Cao's films often center on humanity in extreme conditions. Exploring human nature is the ultimate and eternal theme of his works.
Some industry watchers, like Variety, have situated directors like Cao between the older fifth generation directors, such as Chen Kaige or Zhang Yimou, who have achieved major international and box-office success, and the more "underground" sixth generation directors, like Jia Zhangke and Wang Xiaoshuai.
Directorial career Cao Baoping graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1989, and spent most of the 1990s teaching screenwriting at his alma mater. Cao would go on to expand into directing television and television films, co-directing the television film Absolute Emotion in 2001.
His solo debut as director was 2006's Trouble Makers, a satirical black comedy about a village taking revenge on a gang of hoodlums. Due to its rough content, Trouble Makers faced a host of problems from censors and spent six years in gestation before finally being released. The film premiered at the 2006 Shanghai International Film Festival, where it was called by Variety's Derek Elley as a standout entry.
In 2008, Cao followed up Trouble Makers with The Equation of Love and Death, starring Zhou Xun. The film was well received and Cao would win a best new director award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival for his efforts.
Filmography Film YearEnglish TitleChinese TitleNotes2006Trouble Makers光荣的愤怒Feature film debut2008The Equation of Love and Death李米的猜想2013Einstein & Einstein狗十三2015The Dead End烈日灼心2016Cock and Bull追凶者也2023Across the Furious Sea涉过愤怒的海2025One Wacky Summer脱缰者也
References
External links
Cao Baoping at the Chinese Movie Database Cao Baoping at Variety.com