Chen Kaige was, along with cinematographer turned director Zhang Yimou (Judou, Raise the Red Lantern) and Tian Zhuangzhuang (Horse Thief, The Blue Kite), in the first graduating class of the Beijing Film Academy since the Cultural Revolution. Known as the "Fifth Generation" filmmakers, they ushered in a new, more daring Chinese cinema, and Chen's debut film, Yellow Earth (1984, shot by Zhang Yimou) brought international attention to China's re-energized cinema landscape.

Chen and his fellow directors often incurred the wrath of Chinese censors even as they drew international acclaim. With his sweeping epic Farewell My Concubine (1993), his portrait of China's changing political, social and cultural landscape over 40 turbulent years as seen through the eyes of two Chinese opera performers trying to weather the national storms, Chen directly confronted the taboo topic of the Cultural Revolution. It became the first Chinese film to win the Palm D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and it was banned in China. Twice.

Chen set his next films farther back in history - Temptress Moon (1996), a lush tragedy set in 1920s China shot by Christopher Doyle, and The Emperor and the Assassin (1999), his version of the unification of China in the Third Century BC - the better to sneak in his politics, and even made a film in the West, Killing Me Softly (2002), an erotic drama starring Heather Graham and Joseph Fiennes that never found a real theatrical release.

Like many ambitious directors in China, he's returned to the safety of the distant past for his latest film. The Promise, set in the ancient China of warring clans, is his take on the wuxia pian genre, the romantic action adventures of magic and martial arts revived with the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. It's the most expensive film made in China to date and has been a huge success in Asia.

Chen speaks English with enough fluency to express himself and conducts his interviews without an interpreter. He's also a cagey interview subject who shies away from talking politics and tends to answer with rather vague references to cultural identity and a culture in transition. Perhaps it's merely the caution of a director who has spent his career battling censorship within China. After all, he has his films to speak for him.