Ning Ying

Born in Beijing in 1959, Ning Ying was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy in 1978 together with many of the filmmakers of China’s Fifth Generation. She left China for Italy in 1980 and completed her film training at the Rome Film Experimental Academy in 1986. After returning to China in 1987, she worked as Bernardo Bertolucci’s assistant director for The Last Emperor. She made her directorial debut with Someone Loves Just Me, and then directed her “Beijing Trilogy”: For Fun, On the Beat, and I Love Beijing. Together, the films are an analysis of the massive changes that China’s national capital had undergone over the previous decades. Ning started venturing into documentaries with a series of shorts for UNICEF. Her first feature-length documentary Railroad of Hope, which follows the mass migration of cheap labor between Sichuan and Xinjiang, won the Grand Prize at the 2002 Cinema du Réel festival in Paris.

To Live and Die in Ordos (2013)

The film is inspired by the story of Hao Wanzhong, a policeman in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. Following his career, through the inner workings of a modern Chinese police department in Inner Mongolia. While rising through the ranks Hao Wanzhong successfully solves ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Wang Jingchun  •  Weihan Chen  •  Bo Bai  •  Hou Yansong

The film is inspired by the story of Hao Wanzhong, a policeman in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. Following his career, through the inner workings of a modern Chinese police department in Inner Mongolia. While rising through the ranks Hao Wanzhong successfully solves ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Wang Jingchun  •  Weihan Chen  •  Bo Bai  •  Hou Yansong

For Fun (1993)

Required to retire from his job as a utility man at a Peking Opera theater, Old Han is at loose ends, wandering the backstreets of Beijing looking for something to correct.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Huang Zongluo  •  Han Shanxu

Required to retire from his job as a utility man at a Peking Opera theater, Old Han is at loose ends, wandering the backstreets of Beijing looking for something to correct.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Huang Zongluo  •  Han Shanxu

The Double Life (2010)

Hangzhou, China, the present day. Chen Congming, an associate professor at a medical college who is popular with his students, alarms his superiors with his theory that everyone has the potential to go crazy, and that the dividing line between sanity and insanity ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Zhang Jingchu  •  Wang Luoyong  •  Yuan Wenkang  •  Deng Jiajia

Hangzhou, China, the present day. Chen Congming, an associate professor at a medical college who is popular with his students, alarms his superiors with his theory that everyone has the potential to go crazy, and that the dividing line between sanity and insanity ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Zhang Jingchu  •  Wang Luoyong  •  Yuan Wenkang  •  Deng Jiajia

On the Beat (1995)

Take crime out of police work, and what's left is procedures. In the western sector of Beijing, we follow the tedium of police officers. A rabid dog is loose in Guoli's beat: a gang of police officers hunts it down. Then, word comes from on high to pick up all the ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Li Zhanhe

Take crime out of police work, and what's left is procedures. In the western sector of Beijing, we follow the tedium of police officers. A rabid dog is loose in Guoli's beat: a gang of police officers hunts it down. Then, word comes from on high to pick up all the ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Li Zhanhe

I Love Beijing (2001)

Filmmaker Ning Ying returns to her favorite theme – the gradual decay of traditional Chinese values and culture at the dawn of the 21st century – in this low-key drama. Desi (Yu Lei) is a cab driver who has recently broken up with his wife. Lonely, Desi is ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Tao Hong  •  Li Qinqin  •  Cui Jian  •  Liu Miao

Filmmaker Ning Ying returns to her favorite theme – the gradual decay of traditional Chinese values and culture at the dawn of the 21st century – in this low-key drama. Desi (Yu Lei) is a cab driver who has recently broken up with his wife. Lonely, Desi is ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Tao Hong  •  Li Qinqin  •  Cui Jian  •  Liu Miao

Railroad of Hope (2002)

Railroad of Hope consists of interviews and footage collected over three days by Ning Ying of migrant agricultural workers traveling from Sichuan in China's interior, to the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China's northwest frontier.[1] Through informal interviews ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST: 

Railroad of Hope consists of interviews and footage collected over three days by Ning Ying of migrant agricultural workers traveling from Sichuan in China's interior, to the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China's northwest frontier.[1] Through informal interviews ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST: 

Perpetual Motion (2005)

Niuniu, a wealthy middle aged woman living in Beijing, discovers that her husband is having an affair after coming upon a romantic e-mail. She knows only that it is one of her close friends but not which one. Determined to discover the truth, she invites her ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Hung Huang  •  Li Qinqin  •  Liu Sola

Niuniu, a wealthy middle aged woman living in Beijing, discovers that her husband is having an affair after coming upon a romantic e-mail. She knows only that it is one of her close friends but not which one. Determined to discover the truth, she invites her ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Hung Huang  •  Li Qinqin  •  Liu Sola

Kung Fu Hero (2012)

Chen Ping protects a young boy named "Christophe" from his kidnappers.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Yuen Cheung-Yan  •  Ning Ying
CAST:  Vanessa Branch  •  Tiger Hu Chen  •  Arman Darbo  •  Igor Darbo

Chen Ping protects a young boy named "Christophe" from his kidnappers.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Yuen Cheung-Yan  •  Ning Ying
CAST:  Vanessa Branch  •  Tiger Hu Chen  •  Arman Darbo  •  Igor Darbo

Romance Out Of The Blue (2015)

Novice flight attendant Sasha was looking forward to her first flight, but nervous. On the plane, she inadvertently offends a male passenger. He was a handsome and suave man - a typical diamond bachelor. Moreover, he turns out to be thoughtful and considerate. A ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Xia Yu  •  Guan Xiaotong  •  Liu Zi

Novice flight attendant Sasha was looking forward to her first flight, but nervous. On the plane, she inadvertently offends a male passenger. He was a handsome and suave man - a typical diamond bachelor. Moreover, he turns out to be thoughtful and considerate. A ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Xia Yu  •  Guan Xiaotong  •  Liu Zi

有人偏偏爱上我 (1990)

The debut film by Chinese director Ning Ying, starring Shi Puyuan, Fang Zheng, Ma Xiaoqing, and others. Tells the story of a pair of friends who went to the karaoke hall as musicians but were involved in smuggling.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Ma Xiaoqing  •  Ge You  •  Tian Liang  •  Wang Ban

The debut film by Chinese director Ning Ying, starring Shi Puyuan, Fang Zheng, Ma Xiaoqing, and others. Tells the story of a pair of friends who went to the karaoke hall as musicians but were involved in smuggling.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST:  Ma Xiaoqing  •  Ge You  •  Tian Liang  •  Wang Ban

Duling - Turin (1996)

1996 film  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST: 

1996 film  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST: 

Unwordly (2010)

A film by Ning Ying.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST: 

A film by Ning Ying.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST: 

Commune by the Great Wall (2002)

Selected for the Venice Biennale. A short documentary made on the "Commune by the Great Wall": a contemporary architectural museum of private houses designed by 12 Asian artists. (Cinematography: Andre Kawazudi.)  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST: 

Selected for the Venice Biennale. A short documentary made on the "Commune by the Great Wall": a contemporary architectural museum of private houses designed by 12 Asian artists. (Cinematography: Andre Kawazudi.)  (more)

DIRECTION:  Ning Ying
CAST: