---
name: "Hou Hsiao-hsien"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/hou-hsiao-hsien"
roles: ["Producer","Director"]
born: "8 April 1947"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "producer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T12:38:44.822119+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."
---

# Hou Hsiao-hsien

Producer and director. Born 8 April 1947 in Mei County, Guangdong, China.

## Details

- **Work:** Producer, Director
- **Born:** 8 April 1947, Mei County, Guangdong, China
- **Active:** 1991–2015
- **Also known as:** Hau Hau-Yin, Hou Syao-Syan, Hou Li, Hook Li, 侯孝賢, 허우 샤오시엔, 侯孝贤, HHH, 허우샤오셴, 후효현, Lai Hou, Hsiao-hsien Hou
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 directing, 1 producing
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 91 (1), 2010s 82 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hou_Hsiao-hsien, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q435626, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0396284/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/64992

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*The Assassin*](https://film.one/film/the-assassin.md) (82)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Hou Hsiao-hsien is a Taiwanese film director and screenwriter. Born on 8 April 1947 in Mei County, Guangdong, China, he moved to Taiwan as a child and studied at the National Taiwan Academy of the Arts. He is a leading figure in Taiwan's New Wave cinema movement.

His films include *The Boys from Fengkuei* (1983), *Taipei Story* (1985), *The Time to Live and the Time to Die* (1985), *Dust in the Wind* (1986), *A City of Sadness* (1989), *Flowers of Shanghai* (1998), *Millennium Mambo* (2001), *Three Times* (2005) and *The Assassin* (2015), on which he also received a screenplay credit. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for *A City of Sadness* and the Best Director award at Cannes for *The Assassin*. Hou retired after *The Assassin*, his final feature.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, hollywoodreporter.com, britannica.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Directed (1)

- *The Assassin* (2015), Fi1m 82, Director, Executive Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-assassin.md)

### Produced (1) — the average rests on these

- *Raise the Red Lantern* (1991), Fi1m 91, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/raise-the-red-lantern.md)

## Complete filmography (72)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Mongrel* (2025), Executive Producer
- *Daughter's Daughter* (2024), Executive Producer
- *Old Fox* (2023), Executive Producer
- *Be with Me* (2023), Executive Producer
- *Salute* (2022), Producer
- *Twisted Strings* (2022), series, Executive Producer
- *I Remember* (2022), Producer
- *Keep Rolling* (2020), Acting
- *The Inspired Island: Unfulfilled Dreams* (2020), Producer
- *Baby* (2018), Executive Producer
- *Father to Son* (2018), Executive Producer
- *Missing Johnny* (2017), Producer
- *The Assassin* (2015), Director, Screenplay, Executive Producer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-assassin.md)
- *Paradise in Service* (2014), Executive Producer
- *Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above* (2013), Producer, Executive Producer
- *Return Ticket* (2011), Executive Producer
- *10 Plus 10* (2011), Director
- *Liu Xiaodong: Hometown Boy* (2011), Producer
- *Taipei Exchanges* (2010), Producer
- *One Day* (2010), Executive Producer
- *In the Golden Age of Chinese Craftsmanship* (2008), Voice, Director
- *To Each His Own Cinema* (2007), Director
- *the electric princess house* (2007), Director
- *Flight of the Red Balloon* (2007), Director, Writer
- *Reflections* (2007), Producer
- *Three Times* (2005), Director, Writer
- *Café Lumière* (2004), Director, Writer
- *Millennium Mambo* (2001), Director
- *Mirror Image* (2001), Executive Producer
- *HHH: A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-Hsien* (1999), Acting
- *Flowers of Shanghai* (1998), Director, Executive Producer
- *Goodbye South, Goodbye* (1996), Director
- *Why Don't We Sing?* (1996), Producer
- *A Borrowed Life* (1995), Executive Producer
- *Good Men, Good Women* (1995), Director
- *Heartbreak Island* (1995), Executive Producer
- *The Puppetmaster* (1993), Director
- *Treasure Island* (1993), Supervising Producer
- *Dust of Angels* (1992), Producer
- *Raise the Red Lantern* (1991), Executive Producer — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/film/raise-the-red-lantern.md)
- *King of Chess* (1991), Producer
- *Sunless Days* (1990), Acting
- *A City of Sadness* (1989), Director
- *All for Tomorrow* (1988), Producer
- *I Love Mary* (1988), Acting
- *Daughter of the Nile* (1987), Director
- *Adult Game* (1986), Director
- *Soul* (1986), as Boy-Boy
- *Dust in the Wind* (1986), Director
- *The Time to Live and the Time to Die* (1985), Director, Writer
- *Taipei Story* (1985), Lung, Screenplay
- *My Favorite Season* (1985), Writer
- *A Summer at Grandpa's* (1984), Director, Writer
- *Out of the Blue* (1984), Writer
- *The Bike & I* (1984), Acting
- *The Sandwich Man* (1983), Director
- *The Boys from Fengkuei* (1983), Arong's Sister's Boyfriend, Director
- *That Day, on the Beach* (1983), as Ah Cai's Executive
- *Ah Fei* (1983), Writer
- *Growing Up* (1983), Screenplay
- *The Green, Green Grass of Home* (1982), Director, Writer
- *Six Is Company* (1982), Writer
- *Play While You Play* (1981), Writer, Director
- *Longing* (1981), Writer
- *Spring in Autumn* (1980), Writer
- *Cute Girl* (1980), Director, Screenplay
- *Chu Lien* (1979), Screenplay
- *Good Morning, Taipei* (1979), Screenplay
- *It Was Rainy Last Night* (1979), Screenplay
- *Lover on the Wave* (1978), Screenplay
- *The Revenge of Two Exorcists* (1975), Screenplay
- *LOMA - Our Home*, Executive Producer

## Gallery

- ![Hou Hsiao-hsien](https://film.one/media/person/394564/gallery-d90c225be899.jpg) Hou Hsiao-hsien — 張皓安, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/%E4%BE%AF%E5%AD%9D%E8%B3%A2%E7%8D%B2%E7%AC%AC42%E5%B1%86%E9%87%91%E9%A6%AC%E3%80%8C%E5%B9%B4%E5%BA%A6%E6%9C%80%E4%BD%B3%E8%87%BA%E7%81%A3%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E5%B7%A5%E4%BD%9C%E8%80%85%E7%8D%8E%E3%80%8D.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![President Ma confers Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on film director Hou Hsiao-hsien, winner of Best Director award at 2015 Cannes Film Festival in F](https://film.one/media/person/394564/gallery-385e197d51ca.jpg) President Ma confers Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on film director Hou Hsiao-hsien, winner of Best Director award at 2015 Cannes Film Festival in F — 總統府, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/104%E5%B9%B46%E6%9C%889%E6%97%A5_%E9%A6%AC%E8%8B%B1%E4%B9%9D%E7%B8%BD%E7%B5%B1%E4%B8%BB%E6%8C%81%E8%B4%88%E5%8B%B3%E5%85%B8%E7%A6%AE-%E9%A0%92%E8%B4%88%E4%BE%AF%E5%AD%9D%E8%B3%A2%E5%B0%8E%E6%BC%94%E3%80%8C%E4%BA%8C%E7%AD%89%E6%99%AF%E6%98%9F%E5%8B%B3%E7%AB%A0%E3%80%8D.jpg/1280px-104%E5%B9%B46%E6%9C%889%E6%97%A5_%E9%A6%AC%E8%8B%B1%E4%B9%9D%E7%B8%BD%E7%B5%B1%E4%B8%BB%E6%8C%81%E8%B4%88%E5%8B%B3%E5%85%B8%E7%A6%AE-%E9%A0%92%E8%B4%88%E4%BE%AF%E5%AD%9D%E8%B3%A2%E5%B0%8E%E6%BC%94%E3%80%8C%E4%BA%8C%E7%AD%89%E6%99%AF%E6%98%9F%E5%8B%B3%E7%AB%A0%E3%80%8D.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Hou Hsiao-hsien (1989)](https://film.one/media/person/394564/gallery-07e2e44bc1f8.jpg) Hou Hsiao-hsien (1989) — Gorup de Besanez, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/1989_Hou_Hsiao-hsien.jpg/1280px-1989_Hou_Hsiao-hsien.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Hou Hsiao-hsien (1989)](https://film.one/media/person/394564/gallery-bfffafa65d39.jpg) Hou Hsiao-hsien (1989) — Gorup de Besanez, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/1989_Hou_Hsiao-hsien_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-1989_Hou_Hsiao-hsien_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Hou Hsiao-hsien](https://film.one/media/person/394564/gallery-76991a7a0e22.jpg) Hou Hsiao-hsien — Image via TMDB
- ![Hou Hsiao-hsien winner of the gold lion at the Venice film festival in 1989](https://film.one/media/person/394564/gallery-0a03ed8029a6.jpg) Hou Hsiao-hsien winner of the gold lion at the Venice film festival in 1989 — Gorup de Besanez, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/1989_Venice_film_festival_Hou_Hsiao-hsien_winner_of_the_Gold_Lion.jpg/1280px-1989_Venice_film_festival_Hou_Hsiao-hsien_winner_of_the_Gold_Lion.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Hou Hsiao-hsien et Pascale Wei-Guinot à l'avant-première de "The Assassin" à la cinémathèque française (2016)](https://film.one/media/person/394564/gallery-e1be84492cb5.jpg) Hou Hsiao-hsien et Pascale Wei-Guinot à l'avant-première de "The Assassin" à la cinémathèque française (2016) — JJ Georges, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/The_Assassin_Paris_premiere_1.JPG/500px-The_Assassin_Paris_premiere_1.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 9 won, 1 nominated

- Asia's Most Influential Taiwan 2021: Asia's Most Influential Taiwan (won)
- Asian Film Award for Best Director 2017: Asian Film Award for Best Director (won), for *The Assassin*
- Asian Film Award for Best Director 2016: Asian Film Award for Best Director (won), for *The Assassin*
- Golden Horse Award for Best Director 2015: Golden Horse Award for Best Director (won), for *The Assassin*
- Order of Brilliant Star 2015: Order of Brilliant Star (won)
- Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres 2008: Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (won)
- European Film Award for Best Non-European Film 2001: European Film Award for Best Non-European Film (nominated), for *Millennium Mambo*
- Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize 1999: Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize (won)
- Golden Horse Award for Best Director 1995: Golden Horse Award for Best Director (won), for *Good Men, Good Women*
- Golden Horse Award for Best Director 1989: Golden Horse Award for Best Director (won), for *A City of Sadness*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

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© 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/hou-hsiao-hsien