Hsiao Hsien HOU

Director, Actor

Taiwan

Hsiao Hsien HOU

"The cinema that I like has a kind of simultaneity between conspicuousness, exteriority and content... If I were to compare film to music, I’d say that what interests me is more like the style of a fugue than that of an orchestral symphony. I like to create films in the same way as one would a fugue."



Hou Hsiao Hsien was born in China in 1947. The following year his family moved to Taiwan where he spent his childhood. He studied filmmaking at the National Taiwan Academy of Arts. Then, he worked as an assistant director to Li Hsing and Lai Cheng-Ying, and took turns directing. Soon, his talent is recognized: Green, Green Grass of Home (1981), his third film, was nominated for a Golden Horse Award in Taiwan, then The Boys from Fengkuei (1983) and A Summer at Grandpa’s (1984) attracted international attention at the French Festival des 3 Continents. A Time to Live, a Time to Die (1985) was awarded at the Rotterdam Film Festival and received the International Critic’s prize in Berlin. Dust in the Wind (1986) and Daughter of the Nile (1987) are also acclaimed by the critics. In 1989, his A City of Sadness won the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival. The Puppetmaster (1993) won the Jury prize in Cannes. Most of his following films, Good Men, Good Women (1995), Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996), Flowers of Shanghai (1998), Millennium Mambo (2001), and Three Times (2005) were shown at the Festival de Cannes, where Flight of the Red Balloon opened Un Certain Regard in 2007. As a producer, Hou Hsiao Hsien has helped bring about classics as Edward Yang’s Taipei Story, Zhang Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern.





Jury attendance

  • President Cinéfondation & Short Films, 2008

Feature films

CHACUN SON CINÉMA

Out of Competition, 2007Director

LE VOYAGE DU BALLON ROUGE

Un Certain Regard, 2007Director, Screenplay

THREE TIMES

In Competition - Feature Films, 2005Director

MILLENNIUM MAMBO

In Competition - Feature Films, 2001Director

FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI

In Competition - Feature Films, 1998Director

GOODBYE SOUTH, GOODBYE

In Competition - Feature Films, 1996Director

HAONAN HAONU

In Competition - Feature Films, 1995Director

HSIMENG RENSHENG

In Competition - Feature Films, 1993Director

Awards

HSIMENG RENSHENG

In Competition - Feature Films, 1993
1993 Jury Prize (Ex-Aequo)
Director