Zhang Lü Chinese 张律 pinyin Zhāng Lǜ Korean 장률 born May 30 1962 Yanbian Jilin is a ChineseKorean filmmaker Zhang was originally a novelist before embarking on a career in cinema His arthouse films have mostly focused on the disenfranchised particularly ethnic Koreans living in China these include Grain in Ear 2006 Desert Dream 2007 Dooman River 2011 Scenery 2013 and Gyeongju 2014 Zhang Lü is a thirdgeneration ethnic Korean born in Yanbian Jilin China in 1962 He first became known in his native land China as a respected author of novels and short stories such as Cicada Chirping Afternoon 1986 Zhang moved to South Korea in 2012 and began teaching at Yonsei University Zhang was then a 38yearold professor of Chinese Literature at Yanbian University when an argument with a film director friend led him to take a bet that anyone can make a film With no technical training but with the support of film industry friends such as Lee Changdong he set out to direct his first short film Eleven 2001 a fourteenminute nearly silent vignette of an elevenyearold boys encounter with a group of soccer players his own age set in a postindustrial wasteland Eleven was invited to compete at the 58th Venice International Film Festival and several other international film festivals and this unexpected success made Zhang decide to become a fulltime filmmaker
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