Taiwan celebrates best director award at Cannes
Print Edition
TAIWAN was celebrating yesterday after Hou Hsiao-hsien took the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Hou’s “The Assassin,” a slow-burning drama set in 9th-century China, cost NT$450 million (US$14.78 million) and took the Taiwan director 10 years to make.
It sees a trained female killer, played by Taiwan actress Shu Qi, sent back to her home province to kill its governor — who is also the man she loves.
Taiwan’s leader Ma Ying-jeou sent his congratulations to Hou after the winners were announced at the film festival in France.
The award made headlines in Taiwan’s major newspapers and on cable news channels.
The island’s culture authorities said Hou would be awarded NT$5 million to celebrate his achievement.
The 68-year-old director is one of the biggest names in Taiwan’s “New Wave” cinema, having won a string of international film awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for “City of Sadness” in 1989 and the 1993 Cannes Film Festival third-place prize for “The Puppetmaster.”
The festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or, went to “Dheepan,” a French thriller spotlighting the plight of traumatized refugees building new lives.
As countries around the world grapple with an influx of people fleeing crises, the jury led by American filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen chose the gritty picture about Sri Lankan asylum-seekers by acclaimed French director Jacques Audiard from 19 contenders.
“To receive a prize from the Coen brothers is something pretty exceptional,” Audiard said.
Holocaust drama “Son of Saul” by Hungarian newcomer Laszlo Nemes, offering unflinching depictions of the gas chambers of Auschwitz, claimed the runner-up Grand Prize.
“Europe is still haunted by the destruction of the European Jews,” Nemes said. “I wanted to approach this history in a different way” to reach a younger generation.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
