Tsai Ming-liang

Directing

Tsai Ming-liang

Born

1957-10-27 (68)

Place of birth

Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

Known for

Directing

Credits

68 titles

Tsai Ming-liang (Chinese: 蔡 明亮, Pinyin: Cài Míngliàng; born October 27, 1957) is a Malaysian-Taiwanese filmmaker. He has written and directed 11 feature films and has also directed many short films, television films, documentaries and art installations. Tsai is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of Taiwanese cinema. His films have been acclaimed worldwide and have won numerous film festival awards.

Known for

Golden Horse Awards poster
9.0

The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards (Chinese: 台北金馬影展; pinyin: Táiběi Jīnmǎ Yǐngzhǎn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-pak Kim-má iáⁿ-tián) is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is usually held in November or December in Taipei, although the event has also been held in other locations in Taiwan in recent times

Golden Horse Awards

1962

Three Piglets poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Three Piglets

2019

The Wayward Cloud poster
6.0

Hsiao-Kang, now working as an adult movie actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket.

The Wayward Cloud

2005

Goodbye, Dragon Inn poster
6.8

On a dark, wet night in Taipei City, a cavernous old picture palace is about to close its doors forever. A meager audience, the remaining few staff, and perhaps even a ghost or two, watch King Hu’s wuxia classic "Dragon Inn", each haunted by memories and desires evoked by cinema itself.

Goodbye, Dragon Inn

2003

Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema poster
5.5

An exploration of Chinese cinema and its relationships with gender and sexuality, which the film argues has been more frankly and provocatively explored than in any other national cinema. Utilizing both film excerpts and interviews with many leading directors and academics, the film examines topics such as male bonding in kung fu movies, depictions of same-sex bonding and physical intimacy, the emphasis on women's grievances in melodramas, and the career of Yam Kim-Fai, a Hong Kong actress who spent her life portraying men on and off the screen.

Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema

1998

Days poster
6.3

Kang lives alone in a big house, Non in a small apartment in town. They meet, and then part, their days flowing on as before.

Days

2021

Film credits

2020s · 7 titles

Mr. Kim Goes to the Cinema poster
7.5

After the COVID-19 pandemic, Busan International Film Festival founder Kim Dong-ho, at eighty-five, picks up a camcorder for the first time and decides to make a documentary. His lens turns toward cinemas struggling through the crisis, as beloved theaters vanish amid dwindling audiences. Seeking to reconnect with old friends, "Mr. Kim" — now nearing ninety — travels the world to talk with filmmakers and cinephiles. Through these encounters, he reflects on cinema’s past and future, finding wisdom and resilience in a time of transformation. His journey becomes a meditation on change, memory, and the enduring spirit of film.

Mr. Kim Goes to the Cinema

2026

Wandering poster
6.8

This short by Tsai Ming-liang, completed in 2021, was filmed at "the Dune" in Yilan, Taiwan, where the eight films in his Walker series were being shown.

Wandering

2021

Jean-Pierre Léaud: The Child of Cinema poster
7.2

A portrait of the legendary actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, icon of the French New Wave and closely linked to the work of François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Goddard.

Jean-Pierre Léaud: The Child of Cinema

2024

Where Do You Stand, Tsai Ming-liang? poster
NR

"For reasons of health, Lee Kang-sheng and I moved to the mountains. We don't have any neighbors. Our house is part of a row of dilapidated houses. I love these abandoned houses. I often walk around in them casually. I think they are beautiful. I said to Lee Kang-sheng: we don't have to go elsewhere to make films anymore. I'll make all my remaining films right here. I got some old chairs and some of my paintings and arranged them in these abandoned houses. And thus, this film was made." Tsai Ming-liang

Where Do You Stand, Tsai Ming-liang?

2022

The Ozu Diaries poster
NR

Unveiling Yasujiro Ozu’s legacy through his personal diaries, letters, and interviews, the documentary delves into his life, creative process, and lasting impact on filmmaking.

The Ozu Diaries

2025

No artwork available
NR

A leading figure of the "Second New Wave" of Taiwanese cinema, award-winning Director Tsai Ming-Liang has left his mark on the art world with his minimalist dialogues, contemplative fixed shots, and unmistakable depictions of urban settings. But what's left to achieve when most of your dreams have come true? Exclusively for TaiwanPlus, Tsai, who promised himself not to make more than ten feature films - but already has eleven to his credit - discusses the origins of his art and the future of his cinematographic commitment.

The Pursuit of a Cinematic Dream - Tsai Ming-Liang

2022

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Making-of du tournage de Tsai Ming-Liang au Centre Pompidou

2022

2010s · 6 titles

French Cinema Mon Amour poster
5.2

French Cinema Mon Amour is an ensemble film in which each contributor brings their own voice, their own particular approach, their culture, and their language to produce a portrait of French cinema.

French Cinema Mon Amour

2015

Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema poster
7.1

With Taiwan remaining in the grip of martial law in 1982, a group of filmmakers from that country set out to establish a cultural identity through cinema and to share it with the world. This engaging documentary looks at the movement's legacy.

Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema

2014

Past Present poster
6.3

A contemplative trip down memory lane with one of the leading voices of the Second New Wave of Taiwanese Cinema. Saw Tiong Guan clearly established a very personal bond with his subject, and also found many of Tsai Ming-liang’s colleagues prepared to complete this portrait of a quiet yet outspoken artist.

Past Present

2013

Your Face poster
6.6

Composed of a series of portrait shots of mostly anonymous individuals, filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang's digital experiment turns the human face into a subject of dramatic intrigue.

Your Face

2018

Afternoon poster
7.3

Lush jungle and a building in ruins are the ideal stage for a film-confession that defies storytelling and goes beyond conversation on cinema. Tsai Ming-Liang and his actor Lee Kang-sheng confess and put on stage a pièce in which attention and slowness are in tune with the rhythm of memory. The unveiling of Tsai Ming-liang’s filmmaking: from Stray Dogs to the most intimate notes of the director-actor relationship.

Afternoon

2015

Wiara poster
NR

Six authorities of cinema describe their approach to transcendence, mysticism, spirituality and life after dead.

Wiara

2018

2000s · 9 titles

Visage poster
5.5

Hsiao-Kang, a Taiwanese film director, travels to the Louvre in Paris, France, to shoot a film that explores the Salomé myth.

Visage

2009

Sleeping on Dark Waters poster
5.7

A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Ming-liang Tsai’s I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone.

Sleeping on Dark Waters

2008

Our Time, Our Story poster
6.0

Richly illustrated with film clips and interviews, OUR TIME, OUR STORY tells the still-evolving story of the Taiwanese "new wave," from its rise in the early 1980s, as the island was democratizing after decades under martial law, through growing international recognition and domestic debate in the 1990s. Spearheaded in its early years by such filmmakers as Edward Yang, Ko I-cheng, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Wan Jen, the movement revitalized Taiwan cinema through low-budget experiments that emphasized personal stories, political reflection and stylistic invention. Said filmmakers, writers and actors like Wu Nien-jen and Sylvia Chang, even "second wave" directors Tsai Ming-liang and Lin Cheng-sheng provide fond reminiscences and retrospective insights in this compelling account of one of the most distinctive national cinemas of the last quarter-century.

Our Time, Our Story

2002

Léaud l'unique poster
10.0

Documentary about the work of Nouvelle Vague actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, with interview clips, film clips and contributions from directors and actors he has worked with.

Léaud l'unique

2001

Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water poster
NR

The title of the François Lunel film is the Buddhist proverb concluding by: "all is but illusion". His movie draws the Tsai Ming-Liang's face during the shooting of his movie Visage, which itself is also a movie within a movie.

Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water

2009

Taipei 24H poster
6.8

Taipei 24H divides 24 hours in Taipei into 8 shorts. It opens with Cheng Fen-fen's upbeat and comedic "Share the Morning", and ends with Lee Kang-sheng running the final leg of this relay with "Remembrance" at 4am. Well-known director Tsai Ming-liang makes a rare appearance visiting a late night coffee shop. Taipei 24H is a contemporary urban chronicle of a city rarely at sleep.

Taipei 24H

2009

Looking for Tsai poster
NR

Human shortcomings in the pursuit of an idol. Two film school students travel to interview Taiwanese film director Tsai Ming-liang and actor Lee Kang-sheng in Oslo.

Looking for Tsai

2002

No artwork available
NR

About remembrance, of course, but also about the aromas that remain after farewell. A woman says farewell to her coffee shop after 20 years. A regular client is the only person to share this special moment with her. On the radio, farewell to a beloved dancer. With Tsai Ming-liang as the regular client.

Remembrance

2009

Moonlight in the River poster
NR

Tsai Ming-liang designed this short film as a farewell to his friend Simon Field, who was about to leave his position as director of the Rotterdam Festival after eight years in office. The piece follows two dogs roaming the Tamshui River in Taipei, accompanied by the director's voice-over as he reads a written dedication for Field.

Moonlight in the River

2003

1990s · 2 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

The Wayward Cloud poster
6.0

Hsiao-Kang, now working as an adult movie actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket.

The Wayward Cloud

2005

The Wayward Cloud poster
6.0

Hsiao-Kang, now working as an adult movie actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket.

The Wayward Cloud

2005

Goodbye, Dragon Inn poster
6.8

On a dark, wet night in Taipei City, a cavernous old picture palace is about to close its doors forever. A meager audience, the remaining few staff, and perhaps even a ghost or two, watch King Hu’s wuxia classic "Dragon Inn", each haunted by memories and desires evoked by cinema itself.

Goodbye, Dragon Inn

2003

Goodbye, Dragon Inn poster
6.8

On a dark, wet night in Taipei City, a cavernous old picture palace is about to close its doors forever. A meager audience, the remaining few staff, and perhaps even a ghost or two, watch King Hu’s wuxia classic "Dragon Inn", each haunted by memories and desires evoked by cinema itself.

Goodbye, Dragon Inn

2003

Days poster
6.3

Kang lives alone in a big house, Non in a small apartment in town. They meet, and then part, their days flowing on as before.

Days

2021

Days poster
6.3

Kang lives alone in a big house, Non in a small apartment in town. They meet, and then part, their days flowing on as before.

Days

2021

Rebels of the Neon God poster
7.3

In Taipei, four youths face alienation, loneliness, and moments of existential crisis amidst a series of minor crimes.

Rebels of the Neon God

1994

Rebels of the Neon God poster
7.3

In Taipei, four youths face alienation, loneliness, and moments of existential crisis amidst a series of minor crimes.

Rebels of the Neon God

1994

Stray Dogs poster
6.3

An alcoholic man and his two young children barely survive in Taipei. They cross paths with a lonely grocery clerk who might help them make a better life.

Stray Dogs

2014

Stray Dogs poster
6.3

An alcoholic man and his two young children barely survive in Taipei. They cross paths with a lonely grocery clerk who might help them make a better life.

Stray Dogs

2014

To Each His Own Cinema poster
6.4

Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.

To Each His Own Cinema

2007

The Hole poster
7.0

In the final days of the year 1999, almost everyone in Taiwan has died from a strange plague that ravished the island. As rain pours down relentlessly, a single man is stuck with an unfinished plumbing job and a hole in his floor. This results in a very odd relationship with the woman who lives below him.

The Hole

1998

The Hole poster
7.0

In the final days of the year 1999, almost everyone in Taiwan has died from a strange plague that ravished the island. As rain pours down relentlessly, a single man is stuck with an unfinished plumbing job and a hole in his floor. This results in a very odd relationship with the woman who lives below him.

The Hole

1998

Vive L'Amour poster
7.3

Three lonely young denizens of Taipei unknowingly share an apartment: May, a real estate agent who uses it for her sexual affairs; Ah-jung, her current lover; and Hsiao-kang, who's stolen the key and uses the apartment as a retreat.

Vive L'Amour

1994

Vive L'Amour poster
7.3

Three lonely young denizens of Taipei unknowingly share an apartment: May, a real estate agent who uses it for her sexual affairs; Ah-jung, her current lover; and Hsiao-kang, who's stolen the key and uses the apartment as a retreat.

Vive L'Amour

1994

The River poster
6.8

A young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river for a movie shoot, but nobody can provide him any relief.

The River

1997

The River poster
6.8

A young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river for a movie shoot, but nobody can provide him any relief.

The River

1997

What Time Is It There? poster
7.0

A street vendor with a grim home-life forges a connection with a young woman on her way to Paris.

What Time Is It There?

2001

What Time Is It There? poster
7.0

A street vendor with a grim home-life forges a connection with a young woman on her way to Paris.

What Time Is It There?

2001

Visage poster
5.5

Hsiao-Kang, a Taiwanese film director, travels to the Louvre in Paris, France, to shoot a film that explores the Salomé myth.

Visage

2009

Visage poster
5.5

Hsiao-Kang, a Taiwanese film director, travels to the Louvre in Paris, France, to shoot a film that explores the Salomé myth.

Visage

2009

Visage poster
5.5

Hsiao-Kang, a Taiwanese film director, travels to the Louvre in Paris, France, to shoot a film that explores the Salomé myth.

Visage

2009

Visage poster
5.5

Hsiao-Kang, a Taiwanese film director, travels to the Louvre in Paris, France, to shoot a film that explores the Salomé myth.

Visage

2009

Night Journey poster
NR

A sleeping city, streets without people. A figure in a red robe walks slowly — across a carpet of leaves, over cobblestones, along the cold pavement. Autumn night fog descends upon the city. In the cinema, people watch the monk’s slow steps and fall asleep. Can phantoms meet and understand each other? Night Journey was created in just ten days through a collaboration between Tsai Ming-liang and FAMU students — a tribute to cinema and to Jihlava as a place of silent dreaming.

Night Journey

2025

Night Journey poster
NR

A sleeping city, streets without people. A figure in a red robe walks slowly — across a carpet of leaves, over cobblestones, along the cold pavement. Autumn night fog descends upon the city. In the cinema, people watch the monk’s slow steps and fall asleep. Can phantoms meet and understand each other? Night Journey was created in just ten days through a collaboration between Tsai Ming-liang and FAMU students — a tribute to cinema and to Jihlava as a place of silent dreaming.

Night Journey

2025

Dust poster
7.5

He wanders around the Comb of the Wind, where the sea rises and breaks against the shore. Along the way, he passes an old Basque farmhouse, a silent man, a woman drinking water, a woman smoking, punks gathered in a rock bar, and people in the ancient city at sunset. The Diamond Sutra speaks of all living beings in these words: "Specks of dust are not specks of dust; therefore, they are called specks of dust".

Dust

2026

Single Belief poster
6.5

Ximending was once the trendiest area in Taipei, and it's also where Kang-sheng Lee's first film was shot. Twenty years ago, director Ming-liang Tsai asked Lee if he wanted to be in his film, and Lee's answer changed the course of his own life forever. Now Lee returns to where his career began to shoot a film about himself.

Single Belief

2016

No No Sleep poster
6.1

In the wee hours of winter a night train travels through a sleepless city. This is a panorama of a Buddhist monk’s journey through Tokyo at night. He also stops at a bath-house in a capsule hotel, where he makes a brief encounter.

No No Sleep

2015

Madame Butterfly poster
6.0

Free interpretation of the myth. Tsai Ming-liang propels a woman neglected by her lover in the mob of the bus station of Kuala Lumpur.

Madame Butterfly

2009

Madame Butterfly poster
6.0

Free interpretation of the myth. Tsai Ming-liang propels a woman neglected by her lover in the mob of the bus station of Kuala Lumpur.

Madame Butterfly

2009

Journey to the West poster
6.3

In 2014, Tsai Ming-Liang was invited to make a film for the MarseilleFID, Marseille International Film Festival. Since he was not familiar with Marseille, he decided to make a film as tourist, capturing the beautiful Mediterranean sunshine in the late summer of that year. He also invited famous French actor, Denis Lavant, to appear alongside Lee Kang-Sheng playing Xuanzang. "Journey to the West" was invited to be the opening short film at the Berlin International Film Festival the same year.

Journey to the West

2014

Abiding Nowhere poster
7.0

The walker with the shaved head and dressed in a red robe is barefoot. He walks slowly but determinedly through the forest, over stones and grassland. He also makes his way through the shadows of trees and houses. He sets foot in the train station, the church and the museum. The sun rises and sets again. The walker passes through Washington, D.C. Another stranger is also on the move in the city. We are unsure whether or not he is following the walker.

Abiding Nowhere

2024

Wandering poster
6.8

This short by Tsai Ming-liang, completed in 2021, was filmed at "the Dune" in Yilan, Taiwan, where the eight films in his Walker series were being shown.

Wandering

2021

Help Me, Eros poster
5.7

Having lost all his money in the stock market, a depressed man falls in love with a woman over a suicide helpline.

Help Me, Eros

2007

Beautiful 2012 poster
5.2

A collection of shorts by four East Asian directors: Ann Hui on a male-to-female sex change, Kim Tae-yong on an emotional imposture, Gu Changwei on pregnancy in China and Tsai Ming-Liang on time and the city of Hong Kong.

Beautiful 2012

2012

No Form poster
NR

In 2011, Tsai Ming-Liang staged a play, "Only You", for Taiwan's National Theater and Concert Hall. In it, there was a powerfully moving scene where monk Xuanzang walked at an extremely slow pace for half an hour. Lamenting the transient nature of theater, Tsai decided to make a movie out of this slow-walking performance, "No Form", the first of his "Walker Films" series.

No Form

2012

No Form poster
NR

In 2011, Tsai Ming-Liang staged a play, "Only You", for Taiwan's National Theater and Concert Hall. In it, there was a powerfully moving scene where monk Xuanzang walked at an extremely slow pace for half an hour. Lamenting the transient nature of theater, Tsai decided to make a movie out of this slow-walking performance, "No Form", the first of his "Walker Films" series.

No Form

2012

Back Home poster
7.5

Tsai Ming-liang's new film, Back Home, depicts Anong Houngheuangsy and the daily life of his home village in Laos. We witness buildings in varying states of habitation and disrepair, farm animals, rice fields, religious sites, domestic scenes, a sun-dappled food market, and a dog adorably trying (and failing) to escape a carnival ride.

Back Home

2025

The Game They Call Sex poster
6.3

Xiao-Min, engaged before finishing high school, finds herself trapped in a loveless, sexless marriage, with her curiosity about the world unfulfilled. Her monotonous life as a housewife is disrupted by a young intruder, sparking change. Following her divorce, she faces loneliness and confusion about intimacy. What path will she choose now?

The Game They Call Sex

1987

Sleeping on Dark Waters poster
5.7

A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Ming-liang Tsai’s I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone.

Sleeping on Dark Waters

2008