FIRST OFF . . .

Director Wu Tianming--who only last week called for less censorship and greater freedom for Chinese film makers and artists--announced Monday through his wife that he is resigning as head of China’s most innovative studio, the Xian Film Studio in Xian. Wu--who has been compared in the West to director Elem Klimov, one of glasnost’s torch bearers in the Soviet Union--will step down in October when his five-year contract expires, his wife Mu Xulan said. A spokesman for the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television in Beijing said Monday he was unaware of Wu’s decision. Many critics and film makers from China and the West alike credit the 49-year-old Wu with producing some of the most adventurous and innovative films in China in recent years, including “Yellow Earth” and “Red Sorghum,” which took first prize at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Wu also directed the kung fu epic “The Magic Braid” and a thriller “The Last Frenzy”--both of which are among the highest-grossing films in Chinese history. Wu is scheduled to come to the United States later this week to attend the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado.