A near-complete career survey of the celebrated Taiwan-based Malaysian filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang, this program brings together his feature films, rare early telefilms, innovative video work and non-fiction and short films, along with his acclaimed ‘Walker’ series, now in its tenth iteration.
A major figure of the second wave of Taiwan New Cinema, Tsai’s films transcend formal boundaries, increasingly drawing on his concurrent practice as an acclaimed video artist to devise new ways of conceiving cinema. His films are known for their long takes, meditative pacing and engrossing depictions of lonely figures living on the edges of urban metropolises. Key to his practice is his long-standing partnership with his collaborator and muse Lee Kang-sheng, an enigmatic screen presence who has appeared in nearly all of Tsai’s cinematic works.
Born in Kuching, Tsai spent much of his childhood in his hometown’s movie houses before moving to Taiwan at the age of 20. After working in theatre and television for several years as a writer — and later as a director of telefilms — he made his transition to feature filmmaking in 1992 with Rebels of the Neon God, an enthralling portrait of urban ennui and youthful discontent. His international breakthrough came with the Golden Lion-winning Vive L’Amour 1994, a story of three people longing for connection, told with sparse dialogue and bursts of surreal humour.
His subsequent films further introduced elements of (auto)biography (The River 1997) and musical numbers (The Hole 1998), while also exploring visions of cinemagoing (Goodbye, Dragon Inn 2003) and filmmaking (Face 2009). His shift to digital cinematography with 2013’s Stray Dogs rid him of the technical constraints of analogue film, allowing shots to extend to previously unfeasible lengths in his pursuit of a new kind of observational cinema. With Tsai’s career extending into its fourth decade, aging has become a preoccupation for the director, with works such as Days 2020 documenting his shifting relationship with the human body in a manner that is both open and empathetic.
Since the start of the new millennium, Tsai has cultivated a parallel career as a lauded video artist, whose work has been commissioned by fashion designers and major art institutions, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris. As his feature films have grown more experimental, their language has become imbricated with that of his video works in fascinating new ways.
He has also helmed the ‘Walker’ series, which began in 2012 and produced its tenth and most recent entry in 2024. The series features a red robed Lee Kang-sheng walking at a spellbindingly slow pace through different scenarios: bustling city centres, art installations and remote seaside dunes. Inspired by the historical monk Xuanzang, the ‘Walker’ films embrace a radical re-conception of time, space and stillness — exemplifying Tsai’s place as one of cinema’s inimitable artists.
In Conversation: Tsai Ming-liang
1.30pm, Sun 1 Dec | Ticketed
Join us for an Australian-exclusive in-person In Conversation with Tsai Ming-liang, as he discusses his illustrious career and singular creative practice.
Image: Production still from Goodbye, Dragon Inn 2003 / Director: Tsai Ming-liang / Image courtesy: Homegreen Films
