Tsai Ming-liang

Tsai Ming-liang (Template:Lang-zh; born 27 October 1957) is a Malaysian filmmaker based in Taiwan and one of the most celebrated directors in the Slow Cinema genre and the "Second New Wave" of Taiwanese cinema.

Tsai has written and directed 11 feature films and many short films and television films. The best-known are Vive L'Amour (1994, for which he won the Golden Lion), The River (1997), Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003), and Stray Dogs (2013).

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."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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

1992–1998

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.

1999–2009

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.<ref>"Cutting for change" Template:Webarchive, TheStar Online, 14 May 2007.</ref> Tsai's next film, Face (2009), is about a Taiwanese director who travels to France to shoot a film.

2010–present

Tsai (left) was named Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the 2010 Busan International Film Festival.

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 is scheduled to make his Australian in-person debut at an "In Conversation" event at the Australian Cinémathèque, Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This event coincides with a special retrospective of Tsai's work as part of QAGOMA's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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;<ref name="Berlinale 1997">Template:Cite web</ref> the FIPRESCI award for The Hole at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival;<ref name="festival-cannes.com">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="Berlinale 1995">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2003, The Guardian voted Tsai No. 18 of the 40 best directors in the world.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2014, he was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the government of France.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Filmography

Feature films

Year	English title	Original title	Notes
1992	Rebels of the Neon God	青少年哪吒
1994	Vive l'amour	愛情萬歲	Golden Lion winner
1997	The River	河流
1998	The Hole	洞
2001	What Time Is It There?	你那邊幾點
2003	Goodbye, Dragon Inn	不散
2005	The Wayward Cloud	天邊一朵雲	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2006	I Don't Want to Sleep Alone	黑眼圈
2009	Face	臉	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2013	Stray Dogs	郊遊	Urban Distribution International] Template:Webarchive. Urbandistrib.com. Retrieved on 29 Jul 2015.</ref><ref>70th Venice International Film Festival – Venezia 70 - Jiaoyou (Stray Dogs) Template:Webarchive. Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.</ref>
2020	Days	日子	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Documentaries

Year	Title
2008	Sleeping on Dark Waters
2015	Nà gè xià wu [That Afternoon, aka Afternoon]<ref>72nd Venice International Film Festival – Out of Competition - NA RI XIAWU (AFTERNOON) Template:Webarchive. Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 22 Aug 2015.</ref><ref>40th Toronto International Film Festival – Wavelengths - AFTERNOON NA RI XIA WU Template:Webarchive. tiff.net. Retrieved on 22 Aug 2015.</ref>
2018	Ni de lian (Your Face)] Template:Webarchive. Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 27 October 2018.</ref>
2025	Back Home

"Walker" series<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

Year	Title
2012	No Form<ref>Festival international de cinéma – International film festival Template:Webarchive. FIDMarseille. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.</ref>
	Walker
	Diamond Sutra<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>English – Past Exhibitions – Past Exhibitions Template:Webarchive. Ntmofa.gov.tw. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.</ref>
	Sleepwalk
2013	Walking on Water
2014	Journey to the West<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2015	No No Sleep
2018	Sand
2022	Where
2024	Abiding Nowhere

Other exhibition works

Year	Title
2001	Fish, Underground (or A Conversation with God)
2002	The Skywalk Is Gone
2008	Madame Butterfly– part of the Lucca Film Festival project "Twenty Puccini"<ref>Festival international de cinéma – International film festival Template:Webarchive. FIDMarseille. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.</ref><ref>Ming Liang TSAI: Madame Butterfly | Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid | Template:Webarchive. Art-action.org. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.</ref><ref>Template:In lang MADAME BUTTERFLY | Viennale Template:Webarchive. Viennale.at. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.</ref><ref>Madam Butterfly | Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival Template:Webarchive. Dokument-festival.com (15 May 2014). Retrieved on 22 May 2014.</ref>
2015	Xiao Kang<ref>VIENNALE TRAILER 2015 – Tsai Ming-liang: XIAO KANG Template:Webarchive. viennale.at. Retrieved on 25 Oct 2015.</ref><ref>Template:YouTube</ref>
2017	The Deserted<ref>Tsai Ming-liang on Confronting Death in ‘The Deserted’ and the Future of Virtual Reality Template:Webarchive. thefilmstage.com. Retrieved on 5 Feb 2018.</ref>
2019	Light
2021	Màn bù jīng xīn [Casually] [aka Wandering]
	Liang ye bu neng liu / The Night
	The Moon and the Tree<ref name=":0" />
2022	Where do you stand, Tsai Ming-Liang?<ref name=":0" />

Segments

Year	Title	Notes
2004	Welcome to São Paulo	"Aquarium"
2007	To Each His Own Cinema	"It's a Dream"
2012	Beautiful 2012	"Walker"<ref>http://www.cphdox.dk/d/film.lasso?e=1&ser=1785&s=2012003,2012012Template:Dead link</ref><ref>Beautiful 2012 – Film Details :: The 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival. 36.hkiff.org.hk. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.</ref><ref>Beautiful 2012 | CAAMFest 2013 Template:Webarchive. Caamfest.com. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2013	Letters from the South	"Walking on Water"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2015	Beautiful 2015	"No No Sleep"<ref>Beautiful 2015 – Film Details :: The 39th Hong Kong International Film Festival Template:Webarchive. 39.hkiff.org.hk. Retrieved on 28 May 2015.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

TV films

Year	Title
1989	Endless Love
	The Happy Weaver
	Far Away
	All Corners of the World
1990	Li Hsiang's Love Line
	My Name is Mary
	Ah-Hsiung's First Love
1991	Give Me a Home
	Boys
	Hsio Yueh's Dowry
1995	My New Friends

Casting

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

Actor	Rebels of the Neon God (1992)	Vive L'Amour (1994)	The River (1997)	The Hole (1998)	What Time Is It There? (2001)	Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)	The Wayward Cloud (2005)	I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006)	Face (2009)	Stray Dogs (2013)	Days (2020)
Lee Kang-sheng	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y
Lu Yi-ching	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y		Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y
Yang Kuei-mei		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y
Chen Shiang-chyi			Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y
Chen Chao-jung	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y			Template:Y
Miao Tien	Template:Y		Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y	Template:Y
Norman Atun								Template:Y	Template:Y

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Tsai Ming-liang at Strictly Film School
• AV Club interview
• Asia Pacific Arts interview
• Tsai Ming-liang on Tsai Ming-liang at Asia Society
• Walking with Tsai Ming-liang and Lee Kang-sheng