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. Continue reading →