Retrospective Hou Hsiao-hsien

In October 2023, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s family confirmed the news that the filmmaker was stepping away from directing films at the age of 76 due to his advancing Alzheimer’s condition. With this, the trajectory of one of the most influential filmmakers the world has seen in the last 40 years was interrupted while he was still alive. Born in mainland China in 1947, but moving with his family to Taiwan the following year, Hou Hsiao-hsien is one of the main voices of what is known as the “New Taiwanese Cinema”, a movement that has taken over the international film festival scene. from the 80s. Among the filmmakers from that time, he was the one who had the longest and most recognized career, with all his films from the end of that decade being shown at some of the main festivals in the world, and recognized by awards such as the Golden Lion in Venice, best direction in Cannes, among others. Olhar de Cinema takes advantage of this opportunity to celebrate, while still alive, the completed artistic trajectory of one of the great masters of contemporary cinema, and will show eight of his eighteen feature films, going through three distinct phases of his career: the establishment of his vision of world and cinema in the 1980s, the consolidation of his style and worldwide recognition in the 1990s, and some of his “mature works” in the 21st century. We hope that Olhar’s audiences can thus discover or rediscover the work of this giant of our times, and do so especially on the big screen in cinemas, where all the visual and sound opulence of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s cinema can be seen. utilized to its fullest. Long live Hou!

The Assassin
/ Cike Nie Yin Niang
dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Taiwan / 2015 / 105’

Café Lumiere
/ Kôhî jikô
dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
japão / 2003 / 108’

Millenium Mambo
/ Qian xi man bo
dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Taiwan / 2001 / 119’

Goodbye South, Goodbye
Nan guo zai jian, nan guo
dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Taiwan / 1996 / 116’

The Puppetmaster
/ Xi meng ren sheng
dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Taiwan / 1993 / 142’

A city of Sadness
/ Bei qing cheng shi
dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Taiwan / 1989 / 157’

Dust In The Wind
/ Liàn liàn fengchén
dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Taiwan / 1986 / 109’

A Time To Live, A Time To Die
/ Tóngnián wangshì
dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Taiwan / 1985 / 138’