Biography

Zhao Dayong (Chinese: 赵大勇) is a Chinese film director. After graduating from China’s Lu Xun Art Academy in 1992, where he studied oil painting, Zhao worked for a number of years as a professional artist and advertising director. He was also founding editor of Culture & Morals, a journal for the contemporary arts in China.

Zhao’s directorial debut, STREET LIFE, which explored the lives of homeless Chinese living on the backstreets of Shanghai, premiered at Austria’s Viennale in 2006. The film screened the following year at Berlin’s Globale Film Festival, and at the Rome Asiatica Film Mediale, where it won the City of Rome Prize.