Tsai Ming-liang

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Tsai Ming-liang (Chinese: 蔡明亮; pinyin: Cài Míngliàng) (born in 1957 in Kuching, Malaysia) is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of Taiwanese Cinema, along with such contemporaries as Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang. His films have been acclaimed world-wide and won numerous festival awards.

Tsai is a Chinese born in Malaysia, and lived there "in a very simple small village" for 20 years after which he moved to Taipei. This, he says, had "a huge impact on [his] mind and psyche", perhaps later mirrored in his films. "Even today, 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." [1] He graduated from the Drama and Cinema Department of the Chinese Cultural University of Taiwan in 1982 and worked as a theatrical producer, screenwriter and television director in Hong Kong.

Tsai's honours include a Golden Lion (best picture) for Vive L'Amour at the Venice Film Festival in 1994, the Silver Bear/Special Jury Prize for The River at the 1997 Berlin International Film Festival, the FIPRESCI award for The Hole at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and the Silver Bear for Best Director for The Wayward Cloud at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival.