Hou Hsiao-hsien
侯孝贤
Taiwanese director, born 1947. He was among the principal directors of Taiwan New Cinema from the early 1980s, working largely in fixed setups and distant long takes, with significant events often placed deep in the frame or outside it. A City of Sadness received the Golden Lion at Venice in 1989.
Career
Hou began as a screenwriter and assistant director and started directing in 1980; his first three features were commercial romantic comedies. The Boys from Fengkuei, in 1983, moved to long takes and distant framing, which became his settled method. A Time to Live, a Time to Die draws on his own upbringing in Fengshan.
A City of Sadness, in 1989, dealt with the February 28 incident, the first Taiwanese film to treat it directly after martial law was lifted, and won the Golden Lion at Venice. The Puppetmaster, Flowers of Shanghai and Millennium Mambo followed, and The Assassin took the directing prize at Cannes in 2015. In 2023 his family announced that he had stopped working after a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
