Zhang Wuliang, a 27-year-old filmmaker born in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, recently won the Special Mention: Best Comedy Short award at the prestigious Palm Springs International ShortFest for serving as producer on the short film The Bullfighter.
The Bullfighter, shot in 2023, is a farcical comedy, following the story of a bullfighter named Philip who finds himself in the streets of Los Angeles, standing up for a pregnant woman mistreated by others and reclaiming his identity as a bullfighter.
Zhang pursued his undergraduate degree at the Beijing Film Academy and was selected as a full scholarship recipient under the China Scholarship Council's special program for artistic talent development.
During his junior year, he participated in an academic exchange at Columbia College Chicago as a visiting scholar in film production. Subsequently, he pursued his graduate studies at a film school in the United States, mentored by acclaimed producers Lianne Halfon of Juno and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, as well as Albert Berger of Little Miss Sunshine. Additionally, he served as the president of the school's film production department student council.
Throughout his academic journey, Zhang produced over 30 narrative short films as a producer, director and screenwriter, and contributed to the production of two feature-length films. Last year, his production Red Man won the Best Experimental Film Award at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, which is an Oscar qualifier.
