ZHANG Tao is a Chinese director, screenwriter and actor.
Born in the Shandong Province, the birthplace of Confucius, ZHANG Tao is the son of peasants. He first studied law while working as a civil servant. He quit his career to depict, through cinema, modern China and its evolutions. He joined the prestigious Central Academy of Dramatic Art of Beijing, within the department of theory and practice of the film from which he graduated in 2015. In 2012, during his studies, he shot the short film Yi Ping which received the prize of the “best actress” at the 9th festival of the film of the Central Academy of Dramatic Art of Beijing. In 2015, thanks to his short film Laughing to Die, he was again selected for the 10th edition of the Central Academy of Dramatic Arts Film Festival in Beijing, where he won the Best Short Film Award “. He also received the “Special Jury Prize” at the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival in the short film category. In the same year, the film was screened in the “Exchange with China” selection at the Premiers Plans festival in Angers, in the official selection of the 12th China Independent Film Festival and at the 68th Cannes Film Festival at Short Film Corner. After filming extensively in the Chinese Shandong countryside, he released his first feature film, Last Laugh. A Franco-Chinese film, co-produced by the production companies House on Fire (France), Bu Tong Pictures (China – Beijing) and Tender Madness (China – Hong Kong).
Filmography :
Features
2025: Against the flow
2017: Last Laugh
Shorts
2015: Laughing to Die
2012: Yi Ping