Tsai Ming-liang (; born 27 October 1957) is a Malaysian filmmaker based in Taiwan and one of the most celebrated directors in the Slow Cinema genre and the "Second New Wave" of Taiwanese cinema.
Tsai has written and directed 11 feature films and many short films and television films. He is best known for his feature films Vive L'Amour (1994, for which he won the Golden Lion), The River (1997), Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) and Stray Dogs (2013). All of his productions star Lee Kang-sheng.
Early life Tsai was born in Malaysia. He is of Chinese descent, born to Hakka Chinese farmers, and spent his first 20 years in Kuching, Sarawak, after which he moved to Taipei, Taiwan. This, he said, had "a huge impact on [his] mind and psyche". "Even today", Tsai has said, "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."
Tsai graduated from the Drama and Cinema Department of the Chinese Culture University of Taiwan in 1982 and worked as a theatrical producer, screenwriter, and television director in Hong Kong. From 1989 to 1991, he directed several telefilms. One of these, Boys, starred his muse, Lee Kang-sheng.
Career 1990s Tsai's first feature film was Rebels of the Neon God (1992). A film about troubled youth in Taipei, it starred Lee as the character Hsiao-Kang. Lee went on to appear in all of Tsai's feature films as of 2023. Tsai's second feature, Vive L'Amour (1994), is about three people who unknowingly share an apartment. The film is slow-paced, has little dialogue, and is about alienation; all of these became Tsai's trademarks. Vive L'Amour was critically acclaimed and won the Golden Horse Awards for best picture and best director.
Tsai's next film was The River (1997), in which a family has to deal with the son's neck pain. The family is similar to one that appears in Rebels of the Neon God and is played by the same three actors. The Hole (1998) is about two neighbors in an apartment. It features several musical numbers.
2000s In Tsai's next film, What Time Is It There? (2001), a man and a woman meet in Taipei before the woman travels to Paris. This was Tsai's first film to star Chen Shiang-chyi, who starred in his next few films alongside Lee. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) is about people inside an old cinema that is closing down. For this film, Tsai included even longer shots and fewer lines of dialogue than in previous films, a trend that continued in his later work. The Wayward Cloud (2005) is a sequel to What Time Is It There? in which Hsiao-Kang and Shiang-chyi meet again and start a relationship while Hsiao-Kang works as a pornographic film actor. This film, like The Hole, features several musical numbers.
Tsai's next film, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006), was his first set in Malaysia and is about two different characters, both played by Lee. In 2007, the Malaysian Censorship Board banned the film based on incidents shown depicting the country "in a bad light" for cultural, ethical, and racial reasons, but later allowed it to be screened in the country after Tsai agreed to censor parts of the film according to the board's requirements."Cutting for change" , TheStar Online, 14 May 2007. Tsai's next film, Face (2009), is about a Taiwanese director who travels to France to shoot a film.
2010–present
Tsai's next feature film was Stray Dogs (2013), about a homeless family.
Most of Tsai's output in the 2010s was dedicated to his exhibition films, in particular the Walker series (2012–24), the subject of which was a monk played by Lee who travels by walking slowly, usually surrounded by a busy background.
In 2020, Tsai released Days, which competed for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale film festival.
In 2021, Tsai released Wandering, a short installation film with no dialogue, which follows a woman visiting an exhibition of Tsai's "Walker" series in Taiwan.
In December 2024, Tsai made his Australian in-person debut at an "In Conversation" event at the Australian Cinémathèque, Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane. This event coincides with a special retrospective of Tsai's work as part of QAGOMA's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art.
Honours Tsai's honours include a Golden Lion (best picture) for Vive L'Amour at the 51st Venice International Film Festival; the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize for The River at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival; the FIPRESCI award for The Hole at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival; and the Alfred Bauer Prize and Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for The Wayward Cloud at the 55th Berlin International Film Festival; the Grand Jury Prize at the 70th Venice International Film Festival for Stray Dogs. In 1995, he was a member of the jury at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival.
In 2003, The Guardian voted Tsai No. 18 of the 40 best directors in the world. In 2014, he was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the government of France.
Personal life Tsai is openly gay and has incorporated queer themes into his films. Since 2021, he has lived in the mountainous Xindian District of New Taipei City, where he partially renovated an abandoned apartment complex constructed in 1973 under the guidance of Jiang Changwen, a then-prominent Taiwanese actor and media personality. Much of the complex remains in disrepair. Tsai shares his living spaces with his long-term collaborator, Lee Kang-sheng, in a platonic relationship. They occupy only a small part of the development and are the last remaining residents on that road. Tsai's 2017 film The Deserted was largely shot at his residence.
Tsai is an avid painter, having taking up the hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Filmography Feature films YearEnglish titleOriginal title Notes/1992Rebels of the Neon God青少年哪吒1994Vive l'amour愛情萬歲Golden Lion winner1997The River河流1998The Hole洞2001What Time Is It There?你那邊幾點2003Goodbye, Dragon Inn不散2005The Wayward Cloud天邊一朵雲2006I Don't Want to Sleep Alone黑眼圈2009Face臉2013Stray Dogs郊遊STRAY DOGS by Tsai Ming Liang | Urban Distribution International . Urbandistrib.com. Retrieved on 29 Jul 2015.70th Venice International Film Festival – Venezia 70 - Jiaoyou (Stray Dogs) . Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.2020Days日子
Documentaries YearTitle2008Sleeping on Dark Waters2015Nà gè xià wu [That Afternoon, aka Afternoon]72nd Venice International Film Festival – Out of Competition - NA RI XIAWU (AFTERNOON) . Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 22 Aug 2015.40th Toronto International Film Festival – Wavelengths - AFTERNOON NA RI XIA WU . tiff.net. Retrieved on 22 Aug 2015.2018Your Face75th Venice International Film Festival – Biennale Cinema 2018 | Ni de lian (Your Face) . Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 27 October 2018.2025Back Home
"Walker" series YearEnglish Title2012No FormFestival international de cinéma – International film festival . FIDMarseille. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.WalkerDiamond SutraEnglish – Past Exhibitions – Past Exhibitions . Ntmofa.gov.tw. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.Sleepwalk2013Walking on Water2014Journey to the West2015No No Sleep2018Sand2022Where2024Abiding Nowhere2026Dust
Other exhibition works YearTitle2001Fish, Underground (or A Conversation with God) 2002The Skywalk Is Gone2008Madame Butterfly– part of the Lucca Film Festival project "Twenty Puccini"Festival international de cinéma – International film festival . FIDMarseille. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.Ming Liang TSAI: Madame Butterfly | Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid | . Art-action.org. Retrieved on 22 May 2014. MADAME BUTTERFLY | Viennale . Viennale.at. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.Madam Butterfly | Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival . Dokument-festival.com (15 May 2014). Retrieved on 22 May 2014.2015Xiao KangVIENNALE TRAILER 2015 – Tsai Ming-liang: XIAO KANG . viennale.at. Retrieved on 25 Oct 2015.2017The DesertedTsai Ming-liang on Confronting Death in ‘The Deserted’ and the Future of Virtual Reality . thefilmstage.com. Retrieved on 5 Feb 2018.2019Light2021Màn bù jīng xīn [Casually] [aka Wandering]Liang ye bu neng liu / The NightThe Moon and the Tree2022Where do you stand, Tsai Ming-Liang?
Segments YearTitle Notes/2004Welcome to São Paulo"Aquarium"2007To Each His Own Cinema"It's a Dream"2012Beautiful 2012"Walker"http://www.cphdox.dk/d/film.lasso?e=1&ser=1785&s=2012003,2012012Beautiful 2012 – Film Details :: The 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival. 36.hkiff.org.hk. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.Beautiful 2012 | CAAMFest 2013 . Caamfest.com. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.2013Letters from the South"Walking on Water"2015Beautiful 2015"No No Sleep"Beautiful 2015 – Film Details :: The 39th Hong Kong International Film Festival . 39.hkiff.org.hk. Retrieved on 28 May 2015.
TV films YearTitle1989Endless LoveThe Happy Weaver Far AwayAll Corners of the World1990Li Hsiang's Love LineMy Name is MaryAh-Hsiung's First Love1991Give Me a HomeBoysHsio Yueh's Dowry1995My New Friends
Casting Tsai frequently recasts actors he has worked with on previous films: Actor Rebels of theNeon God(1992) Vive L'Amour(1994) The River(1997) The Hole(1998) What TimeIs It There?(2001) Goodbye,Dragon Inn(2003) The WaywardCloud(2005) I Don't Wantto Sleep Alone(2006) Face(2009) Stray Dogs(2013) Days(2020) Lee Kang-sheng Lu Yi-ching Yang Kuei-mei Chen Shiang-chyi Chen Chao-jung Miao Tien Norman Atun
References
External links
Tsai Ming-liang at Strictly Film School AV Club interview Asia Pacific Arts interview Tsai Ming-liang on Tsai Ming-liang at Asia Society Walking with Tsai Ming-liang and Lee Kang-sheng