--- name: "Edward Yang" canonical: "https://film.one/person/edward-yang" fi1m_id: "edward-yang" imdb_id: "nm0945981" tmdb_id: 143035 wikidata_id: "Q716700" roles: ["Director","Writer"] born: "6 November 1947" died: "29 June 2007" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 91 average_as: "director" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-26T03:08:21.461446+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Edward Yang ## Identity Edward Yang - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/edward-yang - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** edward-yang - **IMDb ID:** nm0945981 - **TMDB ID:** 143035 - **Wikidata ID:** Q716700 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Yang, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q716700, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0945981/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/143035 Director and writer. Born 6 November 1947 in 中国上海, Shanghai, Cina. Died 29 June 2007. ## Details - **Work:** Director, Writer - **Born:** 6 November 1947, 中国上海, Shanghai, Cina - **Died:** 29 June 2007 - **Active:** 1991–2000 - **Also known as:** Yang Dechang, Te-Chang Yang, 楊德昌, 에드워드 양, 양더창, 杨德昌 - **Frequently works with:** [Elaine Jin Yan-Ling](https://film.one/person/elaine-jin-yan-ling.md) - **Cannes Film Festival:** 1 Cannes prize (1 won) - **Average Fi1m score:** 91, as director, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 90 (1), 2000s 92 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Yang, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q716700, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0945981/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/143035 ## Fi1m on Edward Yang > Edward Yang makes room for whole families without losing sight of the hurt of one schoolboy. His films demand attention, but we value their patience and their tenderness towards people whose failings he sees quite clearly. The father in *A Brighter Summer Day* (1991) walks his bicycle home beside his son after a row at school. He tells the boy that hard work and belief in himself will keep fear away. We were quietly undone by the scene, because Yang lets the reassurance stand even as we suspect the father knows it is untrue. Yang lets us doubt the advice without asking us to look down on the man giving it. The film follows Chang Chen's Xiao Si’r into night school and the company of schoolboy gangs in early-1960s Taipei. Yang writes with Alex Yang, Mingtang Lai and Hung Hung, keeping the family in view alongside the gangs. Xiao Si’r's mother is a teacher whose mainland qualifications are not recognised, a family grievance the film takes seriously. Chang makes a tightened jaw or a hand left in a pocket worth watching. Lisa Yang's Ming adjusts to the people around her, without telling us how deliberately she does it. The early features put adults under a similarly close watch. *That Day, on the Beach* (1983) was his feature debut, photographed by Christopher Doyle; *Taipei Story* (1985), starring Hou Hsiao-hsien, studies a relationship amid the city's transformation. The turn to satire in *A Confucian Confusion* (1994) and *Mahjong* (1996) brings business, money and exploitation to the fore. Those comedies can be abrasive, and less sure of their tone than his family films. His final film, *Yi Yi* (2000), follows several generations over a year. He often holds his shots and places people apart within the frame, with doorways doing some of the separating. We have time to notice who is being kept at a distance, though the restraint can feel chilly in *Terrorizers* (1986). *A Brighter Summer Day* needs close attention, not least because there are so many schoolboys to keep straight, and the length will put some people off. Start with its 237 minutes if there is an uninterrupted evening to spare; *Yi Yi* can have the next one. ## Biography Edward Yang, also credited as Yang Dechang, was a Taiwanese filmmaker born in Shanghai in 1947. He studied electrical engineering at National Chiao Tung University and the University of Florida, then worked in the computer industry in Seattle. After seeing Werner Herzog's *Aguirre, the Wrath of God*, he turned to film, returning to Taiwan to direct his first feature, *That Day, on the Beach* (1983). Yang was a leading figure in the Taiwanese New Wave. He wrote and directed *A Brighter Summer Day* (1991), an epic set in 1960s Taipei, and *Yi Yi* (2000), a family drama that earned him the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. Other films include *Taipei Story* (1985), *The Terrorizers* (1986), *A Confucian Confusion* (1994) and *Mahjong* (1996). He became an American citizen and died in Beverly Hills in 2007. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Yi Yi* (2000), Fi1m 92, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/yi-yi.md) - *A Brighter Summer Day* (1991), Fi1m 90, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/a-brighter-summer-day.md) ## Complete filmography (20) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Wind* (2007), Director - *The Trigger* (2002), Producer - *Yi Yi* (2000), as Pianist (uncredited) · Writer, Director — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/yi-yi.md) - *Jam* (1998), Actor - *First Love Unlimited* (1997), as Tap's step-father - *New Middle Class RV - Fatty Doctor Edition* (1997), Director - *Mahjong* (1996), Director, Writer - *A Confucian Confusion* (1994), Writer, Director, Production Design - *Growth Period* (1993), Director, Writer - *Likely Consequence* (1992), Writer, Director - *A Brighter Summer Day* (1991), Writer, Director — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/film/a-brighter-summer-day.md) - *Terrorizers* (1986), Writer, Director - *Adult Game* (1986), Director - *Taipei Story* (1985), as Bartender (uncredited) · Director, Original Music Composer, Screenplay - *A Summer at Grandpa's* (1984), as Guanglin · Original Music Composer - *That Day, on the Beach* (1983), Director, Writer - *The Winter of 1905* (1982), Writer - *In Our Time* (1982), Director, Writer - *Duckweed* (1981), Director, Writer, Music Director - *Happy Single Lady* (1981), Actor ## Gallery - ![Edward Yang](https://film.one/media/person/3928420/gallery-c580f746714f.jpg) Edward Yang — 吳繼昌, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/%E7%AC%AC31%E5%B1%86%E9%87%91%E9%A6%AC%E3%80%8C%E6%9C%80%E4%BD%B3%E5%8E%9F%E8%91%97%E5%8A%87%E6%9C%AC%E7%8D%8E%E3%80%8D%E5%BE%97%E4%B8%BB%E6%A5%8A%E5%BE%B7%E6%98%8C.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Edward Yang](https://film.one/media/person/3928420/gallery-d82107dd4ab7.jpg) Edward Yang — Image via TMDB - ![Edward Yang](https://film.one/media/person/3928420/gallery-41c67d7f184e.jpg) Edward Yang — Image via TMDB - ![Edward Yang](https://film.one/media/person/3928420/gallery-78300b06de4f.jpg) Edward Yang — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Cannes Film Festival — 1 won - 2000: Cannes Best Director Award (won), for *Yi Yi* ### Other awards — 2 won, 3 nominated - César Award for Best Foreign Film 2001: César Award for Best Foreign Film (nominated), for *Yi Yi* - European Film Award for Best Non-European Film 2000: European Film Award for Best Non-European Film (nominated), for *Yi Yi* - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film 2000: Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film (won), for *Yi Yi* - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director 2000: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director (nominated), for *Yi Yi* - Sutherland Trophy 1987: Sutherland Trophy (won), for *The Terrorizers* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/edward-yang