Taiwan director shines at 2015 Cannes Film Festival

2015/05/26

Taiwan’s Hou Hsiao-hsien collected best director award for his martial arts epic “The Assassin” at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, further spotlighting the potential of the vibrant local film industry.

“After taking part in Cannes seven times before, it feels wonderful to finally capture a major prize,” Hou said during his acceptance speech May 24. “It is not easy to make films, nor is it easy to finance them.”

Set in Tang dynasty (618-907) China, the movie follows the exploits of a female assassin hired to kill a provincial governor. The Hollywood Reporter said “detailed period costumes and art direction make it extraordinarily beautiful to watch,” while Variety described the feature as “perhaps the most ravishingly beautiful film Hou has ever made, and certainly one of his most deeply transporting.”

Premiering May 22 in the southern French city, the movie has received widespread media coverage since being selected for competition.

“The Tang dynasty was a very colorful period, with its literature comprising a lot of fantastic tales,” Hou said during a pre-screening news conference. “I have long been interested in the female characters of that time and considered making a film based on the story of a female assassin since college.

“But it wasn’t until around 10 years ago that I started seriously thinking about the concept again.”

Hou, who played a prominent role in Taiwan’s new wave cinema movement of the 1980s, is renowned for his stylistic and thought-provoking dramas.

Previously, the last time the auteur triumphed at Cannes was in 1993 with a jury prize for “The Puppetmaster,” which tells the story of Taiwan legend puppeteer Li Tian-lu. He also won a Golden Lion Award at the 1989 Venice Film Festival for “A City of Sadness,” a historical drama about a Taiwan family during the White Terror period in the late 1940s.

In an earlier function on the sidelines of Cannes, Lim Giong—composer of the film’s original score—won a prestigious soundtrack award as selected by an international jury of 16 journalists.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=230745&ctNode=413)