Golden Horse Award-winning director Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) was on Wednesday made an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French government for his contribution to the development of cultural cooperation between France and Taiwan in the field of cinema.
Tsai was honored at a ceremony at the Bureau Francais de Taipei and received his insignia from bureau director Oliver Richard.
“When people saw the movie The Arrival of a Train at La Coitat Station directed by the Lumiere brothers, they were afraid and scattered everywhere,” Tsai said in his speech.
Photo provided by Yuanzi
“For some reason I jumped on this train, not knowing where I wanted to go. I could only imagine that it would take me somewhere wonderful. The train was moving neither fast nor slowly and swung from side to side, leaving behind white smoke. But I enjoy the ride very much,” he said.
Tsai thanked the French government for its “embrace and acceptance” and viewed his strong ties with France with “tears of happiness.”
Established by the French minister of culture in 1957, the Order of Arts and Letters has been awarded to many individuals from around the world who have made significant contributions in the fields of art and literature.
The order has three levels: knight, officer and the top level of commander.
Aside from Tsai, Hong Kong director Johnnie To (杜琪峰) and producer Shi Nansun (施南生) are two other Asian filmmakers who have been recognized with this honor.
Tsai was made a knight in the Order of Arts and Letters in 2004.
All the feature-length movies directed by Tsai have been shown in French movie theaters.
Born in Malaysia, Tsai is known as one of the “Second New Wave” film directors of Taiwanese cinema.
Among Tsai’s features, the 1994 film Vive L’Amore (愛情萬歲) won three Golden Horse Awards and a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The River (河流), released in 1997, won a Silver Bear-Special Jury Prize at the 47th Berlin Film Festival.
Tsai also received the FIPRESCI Prize during the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for his film The Hole (洞).
Tsai directed the 2009 film Face (臉), a joint Taiwanese/French production. It was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes in 2009.
Last year, Tsai also obtained a Golden Horse Award for best director for his film Stray Dogs (郊遊).
Starting on Aug. 29, Stray dogs is to be shown for two months at the National Taipei University of Education.
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