Director Zhang Yimou became an art house sensation with the release of Red Sorghum starring Gong Li. His second film Raise The Red Lantern also starring Gong Li established him as a leading force in Chinese cinema for American moviegoers. The movie was nominated for the best Foreign Language film Oscar. Now Raise The Red Lantern is heading back to theaters for its anniversary. Here is a press release from Film Movement Classics with all the details so you can know if it’s playing near you this weekend:
Official Selection at Venice Film Festival
(Winner, Silver Lion & FIPRESCI Prize)
Nominated, Best Foreign Language Film, 1993 Academy Awards
Winner, Best Foreign Language Film, 1993 BAFTA Awards
Winner, Best Foreign Language Film, 1993 NY Film Critics Circle Awards
NEWLY RESTORED IN 4K, ZHANG YIMOU’S SUMPTUOUS PERIOD DRAMA STARRING GONG LI WILL RETURN TO THEATERS TO CELEBRATE ITS 35TH ANNIVERSARY
ONE OF THE LANDMARK FILMS OF FIFTH GENERATION
CHINESE CINEMA WILL OPEN IN THEATERS BEGINNING
NOVEMBER 6, 2026
“Critic’s Pick! A beautifully crafted and richly detailed feat of consciousness-raising and a serious drama with the verve of a good soap opera…
[A]s visually striking as it is dramatically effective.”
– Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“A Chinese film of voluptuous physical beauty and angry passions.”
— Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“Gong Li delivers a performance of exquisite expressiveness that,
like the film itself, is unnerving in its emotional nakedness.”
— Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“Breathtaking.”
– Desson Thomson, Washington Post
“With its beautiful look and haunting themes and sublime performances,
Raise The Red Lantern is Yimou’s master work.”
— Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
“Zhang’s film is a biting examination of sexual politics…
Stunningly gorgeous to look at, this melodrama transcends
all borders and eras to speak to the ages.”
– Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle
SYNOPSIS
Nineteen-year-old Songlian, a promising student whose family has been destroyed by her father’s death, is forced to abandon her studies and marry into wealth, becoming the fourth and newest concubine of the aging, unseen Master Chen. Inside his walled estate, she discovers a household ruled by a merciless ritual: each night, red lanterns are lit outside the chambers of whichever wife the master chooses to visit, granting her privilege and status while the others are cast into cold irrelevance. Songlian is drawn into the orbit of her rivals, each shaped by years of fighting for the same scraps of attention. Determined at first to rise above the games, Songlian is gradually worn down by isolation and humiliation until she strikes back, trading secrets and favors to secure her place in Master Chen’s hierarchy. As petty cruelty turns even more dire, Songlian is forced to confront what these desperate measures will cost her soul.
“As visually striking as it is dramatically effective,” Zhang Yimou’s Academy Award-nominated RAISE THE RED LANTERN “subtly exploring the politics of power and control” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times) in sumptuously captured 1920s China. One of international cinema’s greatest stars of the era, Gong Li is “nuanced and understated” (Chicago Reader) as the stifled young woman forced into a repressive world of concubinage. Newly restored, the film stands as one of the defining works of Fifth Generation Chinese cinema and international film of the 1990s.
The 4K restoration of RAISE THE RED LANTERN was carried out by the Udine Far East Film Festival on the occasion of its 26th edition. The original image and sound negatives were used under the supervision of Director Zhang Yimou. The vintage positive copy, presented at the 1991 Venice International Film Festival and preserved at the Venice Biennale’s Historical Archive of Contemporary Arts, was used for color reference. The restoration was made in 2024 at L’Immagine Ritrovata (Hong Kong – Bologna).
RAISE THE RED LANTERN (1991)
Directed by: Zhang Yimou
Written by: Ni Zhen
Cast: Gong Li, Saifei He, Jingwu Ma, Cuifen Cao, Qi Zhao, Lin Kong, Shuyuan Jin
Produced by: Fu-Sheng Chiu
Executive Produced by: Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Wenze Zhang
Cinematography by: Lun Yang, Fei Zhao
Genre: World Cinema/Drama
RT: 125 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: 2.0 stereo & 5.1 surround
Language: Mandarin with English Subtitles
