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Dust in the Wind film image

Dust in the Wind

戀戀風塵

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At the end of the 1960s, high-school sweethearts Wan and Huen leave their little mining town in search of greater opportunities in Taipei, where the vicissitudes of life take their toll on the relationship. The first of Hou’s collaborations with screenwriter Wu Nien-jen (which would also include A City of Sadness and The Puppetmaster), this is a nostalgic love story, beautifully shot by Mark Lee Ping-Bin (In the Mood for Love).

This film was the single biggest inspiration for me in the preparation for Riceboy Sleeps. The stunning cinematography by Ping Bin Lee, a frequent collaborator of Hou Hsiao-hsien, paints a dreamy, nostalgic rural Taiwan that is an absolute marvel to look at. This simple, yet nuanced, love story unfolds often in long, static, uninterrupted scenes with minimal cutting that allows the viewer to observe the lives of these characters as though you are there with them. As a result, when the end credits roll, I find myself missing the characters like I knew them personally.
Anthony Shim

 

September 29 & October 7: Introduced by Leading Lights guest programmer Anthony Shim

 

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Community Partner

Director
Cast

Wang Chien-wen, Shu-fen Hsin, Tien-lu Li, Lawrence Ko, Li-yin Yang

Credits
Country of Origin

Taiwan

Year

1986

Series

Leading Lights

Language

In Taiwanese and Mandarin with English subtitles

18+
109 min
Drama

Book Tickets

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Credits

Producer

Hsu Hsin Chih,

Screenwriter

T’ien-wen Chu, Nien-Jen Wu

Cinematography

Ping Bin Lee

Editor

Liao Ching-sung

Original Music

Ming-chang Chen, Ching Chun Hsu

Art Director

Lau Chi-Wah

Director

Hou Hsiao-hsien headshot

Hou Hsiao-hsien

Born in 1947, in China, Hou Hsiao-hsien grew up in Taiwan. Alongside Edward Yang, Hou would become the most important figure in the New Taiwan Cinema that emerged in the 1980s. His rigorously controlled but deeply evocative films typically favour long, static takes and, taken together, reframe Taiwanese history through the minutiae of everyday relationships. Hou’s last film to date, The Assassin (2015) won the Best Director prize at Cannes and was the Audience Award winner at VIFF that year.

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