Hou Hsiao-hsien

A-yuan and A-yun are both from the small mining town of Jio-fen. They move to Taipei, where A-yuan is an apprentice by day and goes to night school, and A-yun works as a helper at a tailors. Everyone thinks they are meant for each other, and so do they. They fail to see time and fate are beyond their control.

Dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien · With Chien-wen Wang, Hsin Shu-Fen, Li Tian-Lu

The story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror," the Kuomintang government's anti-communist political repression that was wrought on the Taiwanese people from 1947-1987.

Dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien · With Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Hsin Shu-Fen, Chan Chung-Yung

A young woman urgently seeks to navigate the maze of contemporary Taipei and find a future. She hopes that her boyfriend Lung is the key to the future, but Lung is stuck in a past that combines baseball and traditional loyalty that leads him to squander his nest egg bailing her father out of financial trouble.

Dir. Edward Yang · With Tsai Chin, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wu Nien-jen

An autobiographical film based on Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's memories of his youth growing up in Taiwan after emigrating from mainland China.

Dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien · With Yu An-shun, Tien Feng, Mei Fang

In three separate segments, set respectively in 1966, 1911, and 2005, three love stories unfold between three sets of characters, under three different periods of Taiwanese history and governance.

Dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien · With Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Liao Su-jen

In 2011, Vicky looks back on her life a decade earlier, recalling her turbulent relationship with her controlling boyfriend Hao Hao and her growing connection to a compassionate gangster amid the neon haze of Taipei's nightlife.

Dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien · With Shu Qi, Jack Kao, Duan Chun-hao

At the end of the 19th century, Shanghai is divided into several foreign concessions. In the British concession, a number of luxurious “flower houses” are reserved for the male elite of the city. Since Chinese dignitaries are not allowed to frequent brothels, these establishments are the only ones that these men can visit. They form a self-contained world, with its own rites, traditions and even its own language. The men don’t only visit the houses to frequent the courtesans but also to dine, smoke opium, play mahjong and relax. The women working there are known as the “flowers of Shanghai”.

Dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien · With Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Michiko Hada, Carina Lau

Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.

Dir. Michael Cimino, Luc Dardenne, Atom Egoyan, Chen Kaige, Manoel de Oliveira, Bille August, Andrei Konchalovsky, Claude Lelouch, Walter Salles, Tsai Ming-liang, Theo Angelopoulos, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Olivier Assayas, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Takeshi Kitano, Roman Polanski, Gus Van Sant, Abbas Kiarostami, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Jane Campion, Raymond Depardon, Amos Gitai, Nanni Moretti, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Elia Suleiman, Aki Kaurismäki, Raúl Ruiz, Lars von Trier, Wong Kar-Wai, Ken Loach, Wim Wenders, Youssef Chahine, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Zhang Yimou · With Golshifteh Farahani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Pegah Ahangarani

9th century China. Ten year old general’s daughter Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the martial arts, transforming her into an exceptional assassin charged with eliminating cruel and corrupt local governors. One day, having failed in a task, she is sent back by her mistress to the land of her birth, with orders to kill the man to whom she was promised – a cousin who now leads the largest military region in North China. After 13 years of exile, the young woman must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings.

Dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien · With Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Zhou Yun