“Red Sorghum” / 「紅いコーリャン」, Original Japanese Movie Poster 1989, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) I372

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed for the 1989 Japanese release of Red Sorghum / 「紅いコーリャン」, the landmark 1987 historical drama that marked the feature directorial debut of Zhang Yimou and the breakthrough screen performance of Gong Li.

Adapted from the fiction of Nobel Prize-winning author Mo Yan, the film announced China’s Fifth Generation filmmakers to an international audience and became the first Chinese production to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Film background

Set in rural Shandong during the 1930s, the story is narrated through the memories of a family whose lives become inseparable from a remote sorghum-wine distillery.

A young woman known as Jiu’er is sold by her impoverished father into an arranged marriage with the elderly, leprous owner of the winery.

During the journey to her new home, the bridal procession is attacked by a bandit. One of the sedan-chair bearers, Yu Zhan’ao, intervenes and saves her. Their encounter begins an intense relationship that will shape the future of the distillery and the surrounding community.

After Jiu’er’s husband dies under mysterious circumstances, she assumes control of the winery. Together with Yu and the workers, she transforms it into a place of vitality, labour, ritual, and defiant independence.

Their world is eventually shattered by the invasion of the Imperial Japanese Army. The film’s sensual celebration of life and freedom gives way to violence as the villagers unite in a desperate act of resistance.

The film was directed by Zhang Yimou, based on Mo Yan’s novellas Red Sorghum and Sorghum Wine.

The principal creative credits include:

Director: Zhang Yimou
Original Work: Mo Yan
Cinematography: Gu Changwei
Music: Zhao Jiping

The principal cast includes:

Gong Li
Jiang Wen
Teng Rujun
Ji Chunhua

Gong Li’s performance as Jiu’er established her as one of the most important actors in contemporary Chinese cinema. Zhang Yimou and cinematographer Gu Changwei used saturated colour, expansive landscapes, and ritualised movement to create a film at once intimate, mythical, and politically charged.

Red Sorghum received the Golden Bear at the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival, a historic achievement that brought unprecedented international attention to the new generation of Chinese filmmakers.

Poster design

This extraordinary Japanese poster uses a bold graphic composition dominated by intense red and deep green, the two colours most closely associated with the film’s landscape, wine, fertility, violence, and resistance.

Across the main field, dense rows of sorghum bend in the wind. The plants are reduced to vigorous black and green marks against a blazing red ground, creating the appearance of an immense living surface.

Near the lower centre, a solitary human figure lies horizontally within the crop. The body is rendered almost entirely in red, merging with the surrounding landscape and suggesting both surrender and death.

The repeated bands of sorghum divide the composition into broad horizontal zones. Their rhythmic pattern gives the poster the character of an expressionist print rather than a conventional photographic advertisement.

The large white Japanese title descends along the left side:

「紅いコーリャン」

The Japanese word コーリャン refers to kaoliang, or sorghum.

At lower left appear the English and Chinese titles:

“RED SORGHUM”
「紅高粱」

A vertical strip of seven film stills runs down the right edge. These images introduce key elements of the narrative, including:

• the moonlit sorghum landscape
• Gong Li as Jiu’er
• vessels of sorghum wine
• Jiang Wen as Yu Zhan’ao
• scenes of labour and violence
• armed village resistance
• figures standing against a burning field

Together, they provide small narrative fragments while leaving the large central design deliberately abstract.

The Japanese characters placed beside the stills combine to form:

「美は、力である。」

Translated:

“Beauty is power.”

The upper text records the film’s international recognition, including:

The 1988 Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear
The New York Film Festival
The Hong Kong International Film Festival

The poster also identifies the Japanese release through Eurospace and Tokuma Shoten.

At the lower-right edge appears the printed credit:

“Art Direction & Design by Shuhei Tsuji”

Tsuji’s design avoids conventional star-centred advertising and instead translates the film’s visual language into a striking field of colour, pattern, and negative space. The result is one of the most sophisticated Japanese posters created for a major work of 1980s world cinema.

Condition

Excellent condition. A highly attractive and well-preserved example, retaining vivid red and green colour, clean white borders, sharp photographic stills, and excellent overall display impact.

There are only light signs of age and handling consistent with an original Japanese theatrical poster from this period.

Reference: I372.

Please review the photograph carefully, as it shows the exact poster for sale.

This is an original Japanese theatrical poster from the film’s 1989 Japanese release campaign, not a reproduction or reprint.

It is now over 35 years old.

Certificate of Authenticity included.