Hou Hsiao-Hsien Documentary this Weekend at UCCA

Hou Hsiao-Hsien is regarded as one of Taiwan’s – sorry China’s – greatest filmmakers, and a major influence on mainland directors. French director Olivier Assayas (of Irma Vep fame) was one of the first to champion Hou’s films, and this Sunday 798’s UCCA is screening a ground breaking feature-length documentary made by Assayas back in 1997 about Hou’s life and work.

Assayas started his career as a critic for the famous French film journal Cahiers du cinema, and it was here he first wrote about Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s work. The UCCA website says of Assayas’ documentary HHH: A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-Hsien: “Released just after Assayas’ breakout Irma Vep, this intimate documentary profiles a director who was largely unknown on the global scene in the late 90s. HHH: A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-Hsien remains the most thorough look at one of the most revered living directors.”

It’s a measure of Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s standing that a recent poll of film professionals in Taiwan placed Hou’s 1989 film A City of Sadness at the top of a list of the "100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films." His 1985 film A Time to Live and a Time to Die came in at number three, and another five of Hou’s works appeared further down the list.

HHH: A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-Hsien will screen on at 4pm on Sunday, February 13 & 7pm on Saturday, February 19 at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA). The film is in Chinese with English subtitles. RMB 15/10 (students)/free (UCCA members).