Tsai Ming-liang film series to receive limited run at Washington art museum
WASHINGTON (Friday, Sept. 30) — The retrospective film series “Lonely Hearts: The Films of Tsai Ming-Liang,” featuring renowned filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang, will be shown at The National Museum of Asian Art’s Freer and Sackler Galleries and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center from Thursday, Oct. 6 to Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. The filmmaker and his frequent collaborators, actors Lee Kang-sheng and Anong Houngheuangsy, will also visit Washington for a post-screening event at the beginning of October. The filmmaker will perform an “Improvisations on the Memory of Cinema” on Friday, Oct. 7.
This film series is made possible by the support of Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture and the Taiwan Academy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, with additional support from the Taipei Cultural Center, New York. This series offers visitors from the Greater Washington metropolitan area the rare opportunity to appreciate Tsai’s prominent works on the big screen.
A Malaysia-born filmmaker who has represented Taiwan on the world stage with his distinctive film aesthetics, Tsai Ming-liang has become one of Taiwan’s most famous artists of the moving image and is known as a master in the realm of slow cinema. Over a nearly 30-year career that includes not only cinema but also art installations and theatrical performances, Tsai has won numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion and the Fipresci Prize, at international film festivals. His artistic achievements earned him Taiwan's highest cultural honor, the National Cultural Award, in 2017.
Before becoming a professional filmmaker, Tsai worked as a theatrical producer and television director. It was in 1993 when Tsai wrote and directed his first feature, “Rebels of the Neon God,” a film depicting two restless teens wandering around Taipei and their feelings of alienation. This film swept up accolades at the Tokyo International Film Festival, the Festival of the Three Continents, and the Torino International Film Festival. Encouraged, Tsai began a lifelong collaboration with the film’s male lead, Lee Kang-sheng.
In 1994, Tsai’s film “Vive l'Amour,” received the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, helping to establish a place for him in the world of international film. After the release of several award-winning films — including “Hole,” “Goodbye, Dragon Inn,” and “What Time Is It There?” — Tsai brought films into museums by producing a video installation for the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 2007. It became the first cinematic work to be collected by a museum in Taiwan.
In 2009, “Face” became the first film to be included in the Louvre Museum’s collection Le Louvre s'offre aux cinéastes. It has since become the benchmark for films venturing into the realm of art galleries. In 2013, Tsai released “Stray Dogs,” the 11th feature in his career starring longtime collaborator Lee. The film, exploring society’s loners, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 70th Venice International Film Festival and the Golden Horse Award for Best Director.
In recent years, Tsai has focused on installation art, and his works have been well-received in Venice, Italy, Shanghai and Nagoya, Japan.
The National Museum of Asian Art:
Venue: The Meyer Auditorium of the Freer Gallery of Art (Independence Avenue at 12th St, SW, Washington, DC 20560)
Admission: Free
Website: https://asia.si.edu/events-overview/films/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Dseries%26seriesid%3D1485281
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center:
Address: 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Admission: $13
Website: https://silver.afi.com/Browsing/EventsAndExperiences/EventDetails/0000000062
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"Lonely Hearts: The Films of Tsai Ming-Liang" will be held at The National Museum of Asian Art and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center from Oct. 6 to Nov. 13, 2022. For more information, please visit:
https://asia.si.edu/events-overview/films/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Dseries%26seriesid%3D1485281
