Special Program (2) Filmmaker in Focus: HOU Hsiao Hsien

Winner of the grand prize at the Three Continents Festival in Nantes, France, this landmark film is responsible for propagating HOU Hsiao-hsien’s name internationally. Three young men raised in the fishing village of Fengkuei in the Penghu Islands on the Straits of Taiwan are the protagonists of this coming-of-age masterpiece. Starring NIU Doze, who is now active as an energetic director as well.

HOU Hsiao-hsien’s representative work is the first Chinese-language film in history to win the Golden Lion at the 1989 Venice International Film Festival. Set against the backdrop of “The 2/28 Incident,” a significant event in post-war Taiwan’s history, this masterpiece portrays the transitions of a large family living in the port city of Keelung in northern Taiwan. Tony LEUNG gives a great performance as the hearing impaired lead character.

Set in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation, the film richly depicts half the lifetime of living national treasure and recurring HOU Hsiao-hsien actor, LI Tian-lu. LI himself narrates. Winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. An elusive masterpiece which has not been screened in Japan for a long time.