Army in 1968 and served for three years. There he met a war photographer, who introduced him to the camera. Working as a photographer for five years, Tian eventually decided to switch to cinematography and found a job as an assistant cinematographer at the Beijing Agricultural Film Studio. Professional career Early career In 1978, after three years at the studio, Tian applied for entrance in the Beijing Film Academy and was accepted. However, he was forced to apply to the directing department rather than the cinematography department due to his age. While enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy, Tian directed a short student film, Our Corner (1980), based on a short story by Shi Tiesheng. Technically, Our Corner stands as the first film made by Fifth Generation directors. Years later, Our Corner would continue to be screened by professors at the BFA, introducing Tian to new generations of actors and filmmakers. As a result of his role in the making of Our Corner, as well as his experience in film before entering school, Tian became a de facto leader among the students of the BFA. They admired not only his natural talent, but also his natural eye for talent and loyalty to his friends, most notably with Hou Yong, who would go on to serve as his cinematographer in many of Tian's early works. Upon his graduation in 1982, Tian was assigned to the Beijing Film Studio, though his early career was spent making films for other studios. These included works for television, as well as the children's film Red Elephant (1982, co-directed with Zhang Jianya and Xie Xiaojing). International success Tian reached international prominence with a pair of experimental films in the mid-1980s, On the Hunting Ground (1985) and The Horse Thief (1986), both about ethnic minorities in China. Though On the Hunting Ground and The Horse Thief were warmly received abroad — American director Martin Scorsese named The Horse Thief as his favorite film of the 1990s (when The Horse Thief was finally released in the United States) — neither film succeeded domestically, and both were considered commercial flops. On the Hunting Ground, for example, sold a meager four prints. Moreover, both films were criticized by the state and by traditionalists as elitist, and as pandering to foreign audiences, a charge that Tian vigorously and defiantly accepted, arguing that films were for the sophisticated. Nevertheless, stung by the