Taiwan Filmmaker Hou Hsiao Hsien Wins Best Director at the 68th Cannes Film Festival for The Assassins

The 68th Cannes Film Festival came to a close this past weekend and the film with one if the biggest buzz walked away with one but not all the major awards. Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao Hsien‘s first wuxia movie The Assassins starring Shu Qi and Chang Chen didn’t win the Palm D’or but finally netted Hou his long overdue Best Director Award. Hou is the second Taiwanese director to win Best Director at Cannes after Edward Yang was feted for Yi Yi nearly fifteen years ago in 2000. Together these two acclaimed auteurs make up the five East Asian directors who have walked away with a Cannes Best Director including Oshima Nagisa from Japan, Wong Kar Wei from Hong Kong, and Im Kwon Taek from South Korea. This movie took Hou Hsiao Hsien over a decade to prepare and film so who knows if it’s going to be his last movie, and if that’s the case then he’s certainly going to leave on a high note as the film has earned rave reviews at Cannes. Congrats to the pride of Taiwan and for bring more recognition to the talented and deep directorial pool of Asian filmmakers. I can’t wait to check it out when it opens in wide release.

Comments

Taiwan Filmmaker Hou Hsiao Hsien Wins Best Director at the 68th Cannes Film Festival for The Assassins — 9 Comments

Ivana on May 26, 2015 at 2:24 AM said:

Congrats!!!!! I hope this will also hit commercial success, as I’m wondering how a movie with only nine lines will fare with the public audience. Hopefully this is enough to grab the audience’s attention, as there was a stupid controversy, in which the C-netz got pissed at SuQi when she reportedly declared herself of being Taiwanese….

Reply ↓
orange on May 26, 2015 at 2:58 AM said:

Oh koala…at least give us some idea about the plot of the film. And its genre.

BTW, congrats to the director!

Reply ↓
- The Real CZ on May 26, 2015 at 4:30 AM said:
  
  http://lmgtfy.com/?q=the+assassins+2015
  
  Reply ↓
kimster on May 26, 2015 at 4:16 AM said:

Definitely going to catch this. I just love Shu Qi!
Congrats to director Hou Hsiao Hsien!

Reply ↓
- czak on May 26, 2015 at 3:17 PM said:
  
  Hahaha. That was what i thought when i saw pics from above. Definitely watch it cuase i love her…
  
  Reply ↓
srwycs1490 on May 26, 2015 at 5:59 AM said:

Im pretty sure this movie wasn’t the one with the biggest buzz at Cannes.. Son of Saul, The Lobster and Carol were the most talked about movies, but eitherway congratulations to the director

Reply ↓
noone on May 26, 2015 at 6:05 AM said:

I don’t think they’re the only Asians who won the Best Director Award. Brillante Mendoza from the Philippines won the same award in 2009.

Reply ↓
- alua on May 26, 2015 at 8:31 AM said:
  
  Koala’s referring to East Asian only.
  
  She didn’t mention that Kurosawa Kiyoshi (Journey to the Shore) won Best Director in the Un Certain Regard section this year though…
  
  Reply ↓
lovedramas on May 26, 2015 at 5:41 PM said:

Awesome!!!! 🙂 🙂 Congrats to HHH!!! 🙂

Reply ↓