July 31 - August 17, 2024 Tsai Ming-liang: An American Cinematheque Retrospective Series | VIVE L’AMOUR, I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE, GOODBYE, DRAGON INN, ABIDING NOWHERE, JOURNEY TO THE WEST, REBELS OF THE NEON GOD, THE RIVER, THE HOLE, THE WAYWARD CLOUD, WHAT TIME IS IT THERE?, STRAY DOGS, FACE, DAYS, YOUR FACE This program is made possible by the Spotlight Taiwan grant from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China (Taiwan), with additional support provided by the Taiwan Academy of the Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles.
ABOUT THE SERIES: The American Cinematheque is honored to welcome the legendary Malaysian-Taiwanese filmmaker, Tsai Ming-liang, in-person for a 14-film retrospective celebrating his incomparable career as one of the leading figures in the “Second New Wave” of Taiwanese cinema. Tsai’s work exudes an unparalleled beauty, as his camera lingers in and around the quiet corners of urban cities, forming enigmatic character studies in the lonely existence of his many alienated subjects. Actor Lee Kang-sheng is often tasked with embodying one of these lonely urban inhabitants, as he has appeared in all of Tsai’s feature films to-date, and whom we are pleased to welcome alongside the filmmaker in Q&As during this very special tribute to one of the vital voices in world cinema. In his feature-debut, REBELS OF THE NEON GOD, Tsai reimagines the mythology surrounding James Dean and REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, to deliver a masterpiece that in both style and narrative perfectly captures the genuine desperation of youth and serves as a snapshot of 1990’s Taipei. With VIVE L’AMOUR and THE RIVER Tsai expands upon the quiet desperation observable in REBELS, further leaning into his tendency to direct scenes with little to no dialogue – a phenomenon of his oeuvre that he would soon discover mastery in with THE HOLE and the eternally iconic, GOODBYE, DRAGON INN. The filmmaker’s collaboration with the immensely talented Lee Kang-sheng continued to grow and evolve with the success of all these films, perhaps reaching a peak with Tsai’s first film set in Malaysia, I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE, in which Lee effortlessly portrays two different characters. In addition to the Q&A’s accompanying all of the above films, filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang will join us to introduce two highlights in his acclaimed “Walker” series, JOURNEY TO THE WEST and the latest ABIDING NOWHERE, as well as THE WAYWARD CLOUD, and a special ‘Sunday Print Edition’ screening curated by Mr. Tsai himself, of Yasujiro Ozu’s RECORD OF A TENEMENT GENTLEMAN on 35mm. The retrospective continues following Tsai and Lee’s visit with FACE, YOUR FACE, STRAY DOGS, DAYS, and WHAT TIME IS IT THERE? Thank you to our official airline sponsor.