The Story of Qiu Ju

The Story of Qiu Ju
Chinese name
Chinese打官司
Literal meaningQiu Ju goes to court
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinQiū Jú dǎ guānsi
Directed byZhang Yimou
Written byLiu Heng
Novella:
Chen Yuanbin
Produced byFeng Yiting
Fung Kwok Ma
Starring
CinematographyChi Xiaoning
Lu Hongyi
Yu Xiaoquin
Edited byDu Yuan
Music byZhao Jiping
Distributed bySony Pictures Classics
Release date
  • September 1992 (1992-09) (Venice)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin

The Story of Qiu Ju (Chinese: 秋菊打官司; pinyin: Qiū jú dǎ guānsī, "Qiu Ju goes to court") is a 1992 Chinese comedy-drama film. The film was directed by Zhang Yimou and, as in many of his films, stars Gong Li in the title role. The screenplay is an adaption of Chen Yuanbin's (陈源斌) novella The Wan Family's Lawsuit (万家诉讼).

The film tells the story of a peasant woman, Qiu Ju, who lives in a rural area of China. When her husband is kicked in the groin by the village head, Qiu Ju, despite her pregnancy, travels to a nearby town, and later a big city to deal with its bureaucrats and find justice.

The film was selected as the Chinese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[1][2] The film was a hit at film festivals and won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 1992.[3]

  1. ^ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  2. ^ "Foreign Oscar entries submitted". Variety. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  3. ^ "The Story of Qiu Ju". Cineplex. Retrieved 2017-06-26.