Tsai Ming-liang

Early life

Tsai was born in Malaysia. He is of Chinese descent and spent his first 20 years in Kuching, Sarawak, after which he moved to Taipei, Taiwan. This, he said, had "a huge impact on [his] mind and psyche". "Even today", Tsai has said, "I feel I belong neither to Taiwan nor to Malaysia. In a sense, I can go anywhere I want and fit in, but I never feel that sense of belonging."

Tsai graduated from the Drama and Cinema Department of the Chinese Culture University of Taiwan in 1982 and worked as a theatrical producer, screenwriter, and television director in Hong Kong. From 1989 to 1991, he directed several telefilms. One of these, Boys, starred his muse, Lee Kang-sheng.

Career

1990s

Tsai's first feature film was Rebels of the Neon God (1992). A film about troubled youth in Taipei, it starred Lee as the character Hsiao-Kang. Lee went on to appear in all of Tsai's feature films as of 2023. Tsai's second feature, Vive L'Amour (1994), is about three people who unknowingly share an apartment. The film is slow-paced, has little dialogue, and is about alienation; all of these became Tsai's trademarks. Vive L'Amour was critically acclaimed and won the Golden Horse Awards for best picture and best director.

Tsai's next film was The River (1997), in which a family has to deal with the son's neck pain. The family is similar to one that appears in Rebels of the Neon God and is played by the same three actors. The Hole (1998) is about two neighbors in an apartment. It features several musical numbers.

2000s

In Tsai's next film, What Time Is It There? (2001), a man and a woman meet in Taipei before the woman travels to Paris. This was Tsai's first film to star Chen Shiang-chyi, who starred in his next few films alongside Lee. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) is about people inside an old cinema that is closing down. For this film, Tsai included even longer shots and fewer lines of dialogue than in previous films, a trend that continued in his later work. The Wayward Cloud (2005) is a sequel to What Time Is It There? in which Hsiao-Kang and Shiang-chyi meet again and start a relationship while Hsiao-Kang works as a pornographic film actor. This film, like The Hole, features several musical numbers.

Tsai's next film, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006), was his first set in Malaysia and is about two different characters, both played by Lee. In 2007, the Malaysian Censorship Board banned the film based on incidents shown depicting the country "in a bad light" for cultural, ethical, and racial reasons, but later allowed it to be screened in the country after Tsai agreed to censor parts of the film according to the board's requirements. Tsai's next film, Face (2009), is about a Taiwanese director who travels to France to shoot a film.

2010–present

Tsai's next feature film was Stray Dogs (2013), about a homeless family.

Most of Tsai's output in the 2010s was dedicated to his exhibition films, in particular the Walker series (2012–24), the subject of which was a monk played by Lee who travels by walking slowly, usually surrounded by a busy background.

In 2020, Tsai released Days, which competed for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale film festival.

In 2021, Tsai released Wandering, a short installation film with no dialogue, which follows a woman visiting an exhibition of Tsai's "Walker" series in Taiwan.

In December 2024, Tsai made his Australian in-person debut at an "In Conversation" event at the Australian Cinémathèque, Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane. This event coincides with a special retrospective of Tsai's work as part of QAGOMA's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art.

Honours

Tsai's honours include a Golden Lion (best picture) for Vive L'Amour at the 51st Venice International Film Festival; the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize for The River at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival; the FIPRESCI award for The Hole at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival; and the Alfred Bauer Prize and Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for The Wayward Cloud at the 55th Berlin International Film Festival; the Grand Jury Prize at the 70th Venice International Film Festival for Stray Dogs. In 1995, he was a member of the jury at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 2003, The Guardian voted Tsai No. 18 of the 40 best directors in the world. In 2014, he was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the government of France.

Personal life

Tsai is gay and has incorporated queer themes into his films. Since 2021, he has lived in the mountains near Taipei, where he renovates and lives in abandoned apartments. He shares his living spaces with his long-term collaborator, Lee Kang-sheng, in a platonic relationship.

Filmography

Feature films

Documentaries

"Walker" series

Other exhibition works

Segments

TV films

Casting

Tsai frequently recasts actors he has worked with on previous films:

References

References

1. Huang, Andrew. (18 February 2005). "Sense and sensuality: Art-house master Tsai Ming-Liang discusses his new movie 'The Wayward Cloud,' and his philosophies in a moody, existential interview". [[Taiwan News]].
2. link. (30 September 2007 , ''TheStar Online'', 14 May 2007.)
3. "Asia Pacific Triennial Cinema".
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5. "Berlinale: 1997 Prize Winners". berlinale.de.
6. "Festival de Cannes: The Hole". festival-cannes.com.
7. "45th Berlin International Film Festival". berlinale.de.
8. (2003-11-13). "The world's 40 best directors". The Guardian.
9. (14 August 2014). "Movie director Tsai Ming-Liang conferred with French order".
10. (28 August 2021). "In Taiwan's Mountains, a Director Works to Slow Life Down". New Yorker.
11. "Berlinale Programme 2005 – Tian bian yi duo yun The Wayward Cloud". berlinale.de.
12. "Festival de Cannes: Face". festival-cannes.com.
13. [http://www.urbandistrib.com/films/stray-dogs/ STRAY DOGS by Tsai Ming Liang. Urban Distribution International] {{Webarchive. link. (8 January 2016. Urbandistrib.com. Retrieved on 29 Jul 2015.)
14. [http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/archive/70th-festival/line-up/off-sel/venezia70/jiaoyou.html 70th Venice International Film Festival – Venezia 70 - Jiaoyou (Stray Dogs)] {{Webarchive. link. (3 March 2016. Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.)
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17. [http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/wavelengths/afternoon 40th Toronto International Film Festival – Wavelengths - AFTERNOON NA RI XIA WU] {{webarchive. link. (6 September 2015. tiff.net. Retrieved on 22 Aug 2015.)
18. [https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2018/lineup/out-competition/ni-de-lian-your-face 75th Venice International Film Festival – Biennale Cinema 2018. Ni de lian (Your Face)] {{Webarchive. link. (27 October 2018. Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 27 October 2018.)
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20. link. (5 March 2016 . FIDMarseille. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.)
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27. [http://www.dokument-festival.com/database/movie/6987%7CMadame-Butterfly Madam Butterfly. Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival] {{Webarchive. link. (31 March 2016 . Dokument-festival.com (15 May 2014). Retrieved on 22 May 2014.)
28. [http://www.viennale.at/en/trailer2015 VIENNALE TRAILER 2015 – Tsai Ming-liang: XIAO KANG] {{Webarchive. link. (4 November 2016 . viennale.at. Retrieved on 25 Oct 2015.)
29. {{YouTube. 5buB42PBiiE. "Viennale-Trailer 2015: Xiao Kang (by Tsai Ming-Liang)"
30. [https://thefilmstage.com/features/tsai-ming-liang-on-confronting-death-in-the-deserted-and-the-future-of-virtual-reality/ Tsai Ming-liang on Confronting Death in ‘The Deserted’ and the Future of Virtual Reality] {{Webarchive. link. (10 September 2017 . thefilmstage.com. Retrieved on 5 Feb 2018.)
31. (May 2014)
32. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140201231351/http://36.hkiff.org.hk/eng/film/detail/36179-beautiful-2012.html Beautiful 2012 – Film Details :: The 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival]. 36.hkiff.org.hk. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.
33. [http://caamfest.com/2013/films/beautiful-2012/ Beautiful 2012. CAAMFest 2013] {{Webarchive. link. (27 February 2013 . Caamfest.com. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.)
34. Andrade, Fábio. (20 December 2013). "Walker, by Tsai Ming-Liang (Hong Kong, 2012)". Cinética.
35. "BIFF 2013 Letters From The South". biff.kr.
36. "HKAFF 2013 Film Program Letters From The South". hkaff.asia.
37. "2013 TGHFF Letters From The South". goldenhorse.org.tw.
38. [http://39.hkiff.org.hk/eng/film/detail/39153-beautiful-2015.html Beautiful 2015 – Film Details :: The 39th Hong Kong International Film Festival] {{Webarchive. link. (28 May 2015 . 39.hkiff.org.hk. Retrieved on 28 May 2015.)
39. "The 39th HKIFF collaborates once again with four international filmmakers For the Beautiful 2015 omnibus". hkiff.org.hk.