Renowned Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien says the language of cinema can convey meaning beyond words. The 61-year-old director tells that he plans to make "really original and inspiring pictures" and not waste time on awards.

For nearly two decades, Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien has impressed Asian and Western cinemagoers with his unique artistic films typically set during times of social upheaval and hardship.

Hou downplays overt melodrama, but one can feel the powerful emotions behind the long takes of his signature calm and sequestered lens. His works are extremely popular in Europe.

Hou's camera is always quietly trained on the eternal truths. He likes to recapture the atmosphere of transitional times and believes strongly that cinema as the potential to convey meaning beyond words.

"The language of cinema has another important function as the personal story runs parallel to larger social or historical perspectives," says the 61-year-old who was recently in town for the 10th Shanghai International Film Festival.

Though his storytelling is oblique, audiences are amazed at Hou's sharp-edged style - his minimal camera movement, long static shots, low camera angles and focus on the quiet nuances of human emotion.

Hou's latest French production, Le Voyage Du Ballon Rouge (Looking for the Red Balloon), which stars French actress Juliette Binoche, was chosen as the festival's closing film.

The film featured in Un Certain Regard section of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and is a tribute to the classic children's short "The Red Balloon." It centers on a Chinese babysitter who shares the imaginary world of her young charge. The two are followed on their adventures by a mysterious red balloon.

"Red balloon symbolizes care and hope," director Hou says. "I want to showcase the delicate relationship between the red balloon and kids."

It took Hou six weeks to shoot the film in France. He continued his practice of employing amateur performers. Extensive improvisation added to the low-key, naturalistic acting.

Song Fang, a student majoring in directing at Beijing Film Academy, plays the Chinese babysitter.

"This is my first acting experience," Song says. "Fortunately I received lots of advice from the director. Hou's patience and good relations with the crew strengthen my belief that directing is actually team work."

Gentle and mild in appearance, Hou has a clear and firm view that in his filmmaking career he must just "be myself." But he is more than a director as he also writes and thinks. It seems that coveted film prizes and filmmaking trends of different periods inevitably influenced his works.

"But I know what I really need now," Hou adds. "I am not young. Now I hope to present really original and inspiring pictures rather than waste passion and energy vying for honors. I love films. I will never stop standing behind the camera lens until the day I am unable to shoot."

Born in Meixian County, Guangdong Province, in 1947, Hou and his family moved to Taiwan the following year. He studied at the Taiwan Academy of Arts, graduating in 1972. Then he worked as a salesman until he landed a job as an assistant director and a scriptwriter.

Hou made his directorial debut with Cute Girl in 1980. But until he made The Son's Big Doll, one of the first films of the New Taiwan Cinema Movement, Hou attracted little critical attention.

In 1989, Hou's career reached its peak when he won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival for his historical movie "City of Sadness."

His subsequent films such as Goodbye, South, Goodbye (1996), Flowers of Shanghai (1998) and Three Times (2005) have all been critically acclaimed but failed to win an audience at home.

"The cinema of Taiwan has passed through its flourishing period and now faces decline and degradation," Hou says.

He attributes the regression of the film industry mainly to the economic slowdown and recession of the economy in Taiwan. Lack of diversity in content also harms the film industry.

"Many Taiwanese producers and distributors were so keen to purchase martial arts spectaculars from Hong Kong that they failed to support other movie genres and our young directors," Hou adds.

Though he anticipates that revival may take at least 10 years, Hou is happy to find that many student filmmakers in Taiwan have included new elements in their works.

"The young generation are very energetic and original," Hou says. "With the booming of DV-making, they don't have much financial pressure in making a film. Our role is equivalent to that of 'spring' - providing our experience and resources to pave roads for these young talents."

Hou calls himself "a lover of Chinese literary classics" ever since his childhood. His next shooting plan may involve excerpts from The Legend of the Tang Dynasty, an ancient collection of Tang (618-907 AD) tales and stories.

"Culture cannot be copied," he says. "There is no Western movie that can touch the soul of Chinese culture. A mission for us is to preserve our own civilization and history through images."

(Shanghai Daily June 27, 2007)
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