Although he was born in the Cantonese region of China (1947), Hou Hsiao Hsien is considered as one of the main leaders of the Taiwanese cinemagraphical "New Wave". He started out in cinema in 1973 as a script boy, after which he worked as a direction assistant and screenplay writer, until he eventually succeeded in directing his first film "Cute Girls' In 1980.
Known by the Spanish public for "The Puppetmaster", his only film to have received commercial distribution in Spain to date, Hou Hsiao Hsien is more than just a passionate director with an unquestionable sensitivity for putting over different nuances, He is also considered as the true leader of the renewal of Taiwanese film whether from the artistic or the industrial point of view. His activities as a producer-and promoter of montage and sound studios have succeeded in bringing together in Hou Hsiao Hsien two seemingly contradictory arpects: art and industry.
His particular manner of conceiving films on different space-time levels that intertwine throughout the narration, his concern for the history of Taiwan and his scrupulous observations of the details of day-to-day life, make Hou Hsiao Hsien a complex director who demands active participation from the spectator. However, his peculiarity doesn't only lie in the chosen subject matter, but also in the way he, develops the narrative language through the use of long fixed shots, the , lack of sound synchrony, absence of close-ups, superimposition of periods and participation of nonprofessional actors in their first roles.
FILMOGRAPHY AS A DIRECTOR
1980 - CUTE GIRLS
1981 - CHEERFUL WIND
1982 - GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME
1983 - THE SANDWICH MAN, an episode of THE- SON'S BIG DOLL THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI
1984 - A SUMMER AT GRANDPA'S
1985 - A TIME TO LIVE, A TIME TO DIE
1986 - DUST IN THE WIND
1987 - DAUGHTER OF THE NILE
1989 - A CITY OF SADNESS (Golden Lion in Venice)
1993 - THE PUPPETMASTER (Special Jury Prize in Cannes)
1994 - GOOD MEN, GOOD WOMEN (official Section in Cannes 1995)
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