Edward Yang (Chinese:楊德昌;pinyin:Yáng Déchāng; November 6, 1947^[2] – June 29, 2007) was a Taiwanese and American filmmaker. He rose to prominence as a pioneer in theTaiwanese New Wave of the 1980s, alongside fellow auteursHou Hsiao-hsien andTsai Ming-liang. Yang was regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers ofTaiwanese cinema.^[3][4] He won the Best Director Award atCannes for his 2000 filmYi Yi.^[5]

Edward Yang
楊德昌
Yang in 1994
Born	(1947-11-06)November 6, 1947 Shanghai,Republic of China
Died	June 29, 2007(2007-06-29) (aged 59) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Citizenship	Taiwanese American[1]
Alma mater	National Chiao Tung University (BS) University of Florida (MS) University of Southern California (attended)
Spouse	Tsai Chin ​ (m. 1985⁠–⁠1995)​ Kaili Peng ​ (m. 1995)​
Awards	Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival) 2000Yi Yi Golden Horse Awards –Best Film 1986Terrorizers 1991A Brighter Summer Day Best Original Screenplay 1994A Confucian Confusion
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	楊德昌
Simplified Chinese	杨德昌
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yáng Déchāng

Yang was born in Shanghai in 1947, and grew up inTaipei, Taiwan. After studyingelectrical engineering inNational Chiao Tung University (located inHsinchu, Taiwan), where he received hisbachelor's degree (BSEE), he enrolled in the graduate program at theUniversity of Florida, where he received his master's degree inelectrical engineering in 1974.^[6][7] During this time and briefly afterwards, Yang worked at the Center for Informatics Research at the University of Florida.^[8] Yang always had a great interest in film ever since he was a child, but put away his aspirations in order to pursue a career in the high-tech industry.

A brief enrollment atUSC Film School after graduating with hisM.S.E.E. convinced Yang that the world of film was not for him – he thought USC film school's teaching methodologies were too commercial and mainstream oriented.^[8][9][10] Yang then applied and was accepted intoHarvard's architecture school, theHarvard Graduate School of Design, but decided not to attend.^[10] Thereafter, he went toSeattle to work inmicrocomputers and defense software.^[8]

While working in Seattle, Yang came across theWerner Herzog filmAguirre, the Wrath of God (1972): this encounter rekindled Yang's passion for film and introduced him to a wide range of classics in world and European cinema.^[11] Yang was particularly inspired by the films of Italian directorMichelangelo Antonioni (Antonioni's influence has shown up in some of Yang's later works).^[12] He married Taiwanese pop-singer and music legendTsai Chin in May 1985.^[13][14] They divorced in August 1995, and he subsequently married pianist Kaili Peng (彭鎧立).^[11]

Yang returned to Taiwan in 1980, where his former USC friend Wei-Cheng Yu asked him to write the script for and serve as a production aide on his film,The Winter of 1905 (1981), in which he also had a small acting role. The film went on to be nominated for a Best Cinematography award at the 1982Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards. His script brought him to the attention ofSylvia Chang, who hired him to write and direct an episode of the television miniseries she was producing,Eleven Women. Yang's two-and-a-half hour episode, "Duckweed" (also known as "Floating Weeds"), concerned the story of a country girl who moves to Taipei with dreams of entering the entertainment industry, and was his first directorial effort.^[15][16]

The following year, Yang was asked to direct and write a short for the seminal Taiwanese New Wave omnibus filmIn Our Time (1982), which featured other short films from fresh young directors such asYi Chang, Ko I-Chen, and Tao Te-chen. Yang's contribution, "Desires" (also known as "Expectation"), is about a young girl's experiences going through puberty.^[17]

Yang then followed that short with several of his major works. While his contemporaryHou Hsiao-hsien focused more on the countryside, Yang was a poet of the city, analyzing the environment and relationships of urban Taiwan in nearly all his films. Yang's first feature film,That Day, on the Beach (1983), was a fractured modernist narrative reflecting on couples and families that spliced timelines. The film is also notable as being one of the first films—and perhaps first feature film—thatChristopher Doyle received a Director of Photography credit for before going on to becomeWong Kar Wai's frequent collaborator and cinematographer, along with DP Hui Kung Chang, who went on to provide the cinematography for many of Yang's later films. The film also won a Best Cinematography award from the 1983Asia-Pacific Film Festival, and was nominated for three awards at the 1983Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards: Best Feature Film, Best Director (Yang), and Best Original Screenplay (Wu Nien-jen and Edward Yang). Screenwriter Wu Nien-jen would later collaborate with Yang as an actor, inTaipei Story (1985) (as the Taxi Driver),Mahjong (1996) (as a Gangster in Black Suit) and as the star "N.J." inYi Yi (2000). For the film, Yang was also nominated for the Golden Montgolfiere award at the 1983Nantes Three Continents Festival.

Yang followed with his second feature film,Taipei Story (1985), where he cast fellow auteurHou Hsiao-hsien as the lead, a former Little-League baseball star named Lung trying to find his way in Taipei.Taipei Story also starred Yang's future wife,Tsai Chin, as Chin, the female lead and girlfriend of Hou Hsiao-hsien's character, Lung. The film was also nominated for two awards at the 1985Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards: Best Leading Actor (Hou Hsiao-hsien) and Best Cinematography (Wei-han Yang).

Yang's third feature film wasTerrorizers (1986), a complexmulti-narrative urban thriller that reflected on city life and contained the crime elements and alienation themes of an Antonioni film. The film also starredCora Miao and won a Silver Leopard at TheLocarno International Film Festival^[18] and was examined byFredric Jameson inThe Geopolitical Aesthetic.^[19] In addition,Terrorizers won the Best Film award at the 1986Golden Horse Film Festival, where actress Cora Miao was also nominated for a Best Actress award. In addition, the film won the Sutherland Trophy at the 1987British Film Institute Awards, and a Best Screenplay Award (awarded to writers Edward Yang andHsiao Yeh) from the 1987Asia-Pacific Film Festival.

Yang's fourth film wasA Brighter Summer Day (1991) (The Chinese title of "Gǔ lǐng jiē shàonián shārén shìjiàn" literally translating to: "The Murder Incident of the Boy on Guling Street"), a sprawling examination of youth-teen gangs, 1949 Taiwanese societal developments, and Americanpop culture starring a then 15-year-oldChang Chen. The film also stars Lisa Yang, Kuo-Chu Chang,Elaine Jin and Yang's then-wifeTsai Chin in a small role as Wang's wife.^[6]

The film is considered by many critics to be Yang's defining masterpiece. ForA Brighter Summer Day, Yang won theFIPRESCI Prize and a Special Jury Prize (and was nominated for the Tokyo Grand Prix) at TheTokyo International Film Festival, and aGolden Horse award for Best Film as well as Best Original Screenplay, credited to writers Edward Yang, Hung Hung, Alex Yang, and Mingtai Lai. The film was also nominated for a total of ten other Golden Horse awards, including Best Leading Actor (Chang Chen), Best Leading Actress (Lisa Yang), Best Director (Edward Yang), Best Leading Actor (Kuo-Chu Chang), Best Supporting Actress (Elaine Jin), Best Supporting Actress (Hsiu-Chiung Chang), Best Cinematography (Hui Kung Chang), Best Art Director (Edward Yang and Wei-yen Yu), Best Makeup & Costume Design (Wei-yen Yu), and Best Sound Recording (Duu-Chih Tu and Ching-an Yang). The film also won the Best Film award at the 1991Asia-Pacific Film Festival, a Best Foreign Language Film Director Award for Yang at the 1993Kinema Jumpo Awards, another Best Director award for Yang at theNantes Three Continents Festival (where Yang was also nominated for the Golden Montgolfiere award) and theSilver Screen Award for "Best Director – Asian Feature Film" for Yang at theSingapore International Film Festival.

Yang's fifth film wasA Confucian Confusion (1994), a multi-character comedy set in urban Taiwan, which was nominated for a Palme d'Or and in competition at the 1994Cannes Film Festival and also garnered aGolden Horse Award for Best Screenplay Originally Written for The Screen. The film also won a Best Supporting Actor award (Bosen Wang) and a Best Supporting Actress award (Elaine Jin) at the 1994Golden Horse Film Festival. Also at the Golden Horse Film Festival that year, the film also received a total of 9 nominations: Best Feature Film (Executive Producer David Sui), Best Leading Actress (Shu-Chun Ni), Best Makeup & Costume Design (Edward Yang andTsai Chin), Best Original Film Score (Antonio Lee), Best Film Editing (Po-Wen Chen), Best Sound Effects (Duu-Chih Tu), Best Director (Edward Yang), Best Cinematography (Chan Chang, Lung-Yu Li, Arthur Wong and Wu-Hsiu Hung), and Best Art Direction (Edward Yang, Ernest Guan and Jui-Chung Yao).

Yang's sixth film wasMahjong (1996), a sharp, incisive reflection of modern urban-Taiwan seen through foreign eyes, which also starred several foreign actors, which won an Honourable Mention at the46th Berlin International Film Festival, where it was also nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear award.^[20] The film also garnered Yang another Silver Screen Award for "Best Asian Director" at TheSingapore International Film Festival, his second award of this type, as well as an Award of the City of Nantes from theNantes Three Continents Festival, where it was also nominated for a Golden Montgolfiere award.^[21] Actor Chi-tsan Wang also won a Best Supporting Actor award at the 1996Golden Horse Film Festival, where the film was also nominated for a Best Makeup & Costume Design award (Chi-chien Chao).

However, Yang was best known for his seventh and final film,Yi Yi (2000) (full title in some areas:Yi Yi: A One and A Two) – it was for this film that he received theBest Director at the 2000Cannes Film Festival where it was also in competition and nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or.Yi Yi was an epic story about the Jian family seen through three different perspectives: the father NJ (Wu Nien-jen), the son Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang), and the daughter, Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee).^[22] The three-hour piece started with a wedding, concluded with a funeral, and contemplated all areas of human life in between with profound humor, beauty and tragedy.^[23] The film is also best summarized by film criticNigel Andrews, who stated in theFinancial Times that "[t]o describe [Yi Yi] as a three-hour Taiwanese family drama is like callingCitizen Kane a film about a newspaper."^[24]

The film won the "Best Film" award from theNational Society of Film Critics (USA) in 2001 (where Yang also won 2nd place for a Best Director award), the "Best Foreign Film" award from the 2000Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, the "Best Foreign Film" award from the 2000New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the Panorama Jury Prize from the 2000Sarajevo Film Festival, the Chief Dan George Humanitarian Award (for Yang) at the 2000Vancouver International Film Festival, a "Best Film – China/Taiwan" award and "Best Director" award from the 2002Chinese Film Media Awards, a "Best Film" award at the 2001Chinese Film Media Awards, a "Best Foreign Film" critics award from the 2001French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, the Grand Prix award from the 2001Fribourg International Film Festival, and the Netpac Award from the 2000Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ("For the perceptive and sensitive portrayal of a generation and cultural gap in Taiwan and the painful choices to be made in these difficult times.").

Yi Yi was also named "Best Film of the Year" (2000) by the following film critics and writers:A.O. Scott ofThe New York Times,Susan Sontag writing forArtforum,Michael Atkinson of theVillage Voice, Steven Rosen of theDenver Post, John Anderson, Jan Stuart and Gene Seymour writing forNewsday, and Stephen Garrett as well as Nicole Keeter ofTime Out New York.

The film also won 2nd place for Best Director, Best Film and Best Foreign Language Film in the 2000Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, and was also nominated for: a Best Foreign Language Film award from the Awards Circuit Community Awards, a Best Non-American Film award from the 2003Bodil Awards, a Best Foreign Language Film award from the 2001Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, the Best Cast, Best Movie and Best Original Screenplay from the 2002Chlotrudis Awards, a Best Foreign Film award from the 2001Cesar Awards, a Screen International Award from the 2000European Film Awards, a Best Asian Film award from the 2002Hong Kong Film Awards, a Best Foreign Language Film award from the Online Film & Television Association, a Best Foreign Language Film award from the 2001Online Film Critics Society Awards, and a Golden Spike award from the 2000Valladolid International Film Festival.

Yi Yi also placed third in a 2009Village Voice Film Poll ranking "The Best Film of the Decade," tying withLa Commune (Paris, 1871) (2000) andZodiac (2007), and also placed third in a 2009IndieWire Critics' Poll of the "Best Film of the Decade."

The film is also currently available onThe Criterion Collection as a "Director-approved Special Edition", and features a newly restored digital transfer along with aDTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack (on the Blu-ray), audio commentary from Yang and Asian film criticTony Rayns, a taped interview with film critics Rayns about Yang and theNew Taiwanese Cinema movement, the U.S. theatrical trailer, an original English subtitle translation by Yang and Rayns, and an essay by writerKent Jones as well as notes from Yang himself.^[25]

In 1989, Yang formed his own production company, "Yang and his Gang", which was renamed "Atom Films and Theater" in 1992, after one of Yang's favorite anime television shows while growing up,Osamu Tezuka'sAstro Boy.^[26] Atom Films and Theater not only was involved in the production and financing of films, but also staged theatrical productions and plays, as well as experimental high-tech multimedia pieces.^[26] In 1992, Yang also put on a production of a play he wrote entitledLikely Consequence, a video-taped performance of which can be viewed onThe Criterion Collection Blu-ray/DVD ofA Brighter Summer Day (1991), released in March 2016.

Yang, in addition to narrative audiovisual works, also worked in the advertisement business, releasing in 1997 a TV commercial for Mitsubishi with music composed by his then-wife Kaili Peng.^[27]

In 2001, Yang had finished a script about a young kid who travels the world with just a cellphone and a credit card. Regarding that, he said, "those two things are all you need now. It's a new world and there are a lot of stories we can tell each other."^[28] In the same year, Yang also hoped to make a film in Seattle and aWorld War II story set in Taiwan.^[28]

In addition to these unrealized projects, Yang planned to makeThe Wind, an animated feature with Jackie Chan budgeted at $25 million, to be drawn by Yang, heading a team of animators.^[7]

Yang died on June 29, 2007, at his home inBeverly Hills, as a result of complications from a seven-year struggle withcolon cancer. He died beside his wife, concert pianist Kaili Peng, and son Sean.^[29]

Yang's visual style comprehended deliberate pacing, long takes, fixed camera, few closeups, empty spaces, and cityscapes.^[7]

Yang, in addition to being interested in the impact of the changes of Taiwanese society on the middle classes,^[7] attempted to examine the struggle between the modern and the traditional in his films, as well as the relationship between business and art, and how greed may corrupt, influence, or affect art.^[30] For that reason, many of his films (other thanYi Yi) are extremely difficult to find, since Yang did not consider selling films for money his primary purpose as an artist, and also felt that film distribution, especially in Taiwan, was something out of his control.^[8]

Yang always set his work in the cities of Taiwan. As a result, Yang's films—especiallyA Confucian Confusion,Taipei Story,Mahjong andTerrorizers—are commentaries on Taiwanese urban life and insightful explorations of Taiwanese urban society.^[4][31]

Yang also collaborated with many of his fellow Taiwanese film-makers in his films: for instance, inYi Yi he cast as the lead well-known auteur, novelist, and screenwriterWu Nien-jen, director of the award-winningA Borrowed Life, whichMartin Scorsese has cited as one of his favorite works and one of the most influential films of the '90s.^[32] He also cast fellow film-makerHou Hsiao-hsien as the lead in his 1985 film,Taipei Story, where Wu Nien-jen also had a brief part as a taxi driver and an old friend of Hou Hsiao-hsien's character. Yang also taught theatre and film classes at theTaipei National University of the Arts. Several of his students showed up in his films as actors and actresses.^[9]

In 2000, Yang formed Miluku Technology & Entertainment to produce animated films and TV shows. The first animated feature that Miluku was slated to produce was an animated feature titledThe Wind withJackie Chan in 2007, but the project was cut short when Yang fell ill with cancer.^[33] At the 2007Pusan International Film Festival, he won an award for Asian Filmmaker of the Year, and was also immortalized with a hand-printing at the festival along withEnnio Morricone,Seung-ho Kim,Volker Schlöndorff,Dariush Mehrjui andClaude Lelouch. In 2007, Yang also won a Lifetime Achievement Award from theGolden Horse Film Festival and Awards that year.

• John Anderson,Contemporary Film Directors: Edward Yang (University of Illinois Press 2005)

• Edward Yang atIMDb
• Jonathan Rosenbaum, "Exiles in Modernity: The Films of Edward Yang" (Chicago Reader)
• Interview by Shelly Kraicer and Lisa Roosen-Runge (Cineaction)
• Interview by Duncan Campbell (Guardian UK)
• CBS2 Report on Edward Yang's Death
• "The Taiwan Stories of Edward Yang and Wu Nien-jen," Harvard Film Archive
• "A Rational Mind: The Films of Edward Yang" The Film Society of Lincoln Center