Feng Xiaogang, the Beijing-born filmmaker, has just had his latest release, Back to 1942, selected as China’s entry in the best foreign language film category for next year’s Oscars. The film tells the story of a famine in Henan province during the Japanese occupation and was described by The New York Times as “unrelentingly grim”. Though best known for his work as a director, Feng also had an acting role in Jiang Wen’s 2010 classic, Let the Bullets Fly, which starred Chow Yun-fat …
The label was founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The French designer and entrepreneur was also born into a working-class family – but he did not share Chow’s filial piety. Leaving home aged 14, he walked the more than 400 kilometres from his hometown of Anchay to Paris. When he arrived in the French capital (two years after he had set out), he was taken on as an apprentice trunkmaker. Rising to the top of his industry, in 1852 he was appointed to serve France’s first family, by Eugenie de Montijo, wife of Napoleon III …
