Hou Hsiao-hsien Retires From Filmmaking; Taiwanese Director Battling Alzheimer’s Disease

Nancy Tartaglione
·2 min read
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Following recent speculation regarding Taiwanese director/writer/producer Hou Hsiao-hsien, his family has released a statement confirming that he has retired from filmmaking after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Most recently, the 76-year-old had been working on feature On the Shulan River, but is now unable to continue.

A festival regular and leading figure in Taiwan’s new wave cinema movement of the 1980s, Hou won the Golden Lion in Venice for 1989’s A City of Sadness, and the Best Director prize in Cannes for 2015’s The Assassin. His other credits include 1993’s The Puppetmaster which won the Jury Prize in Cannes, 1998’s Flowers of Shanghai, 2001’s Millennium Mambo and 2007’s Flight of the Red Balloon.

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According to local media (and via translation), his family’s statement said, ”Before the diagnosis, he often told us that he found that his love for movies became more and more pure… He has now fully returned to family life and is resting peacefully.”

The statement continued that Hou’s works “have received a lot of recognition at home and abroad in the past, and he has also left many classic works. Not only will he not be forgotten in the torrents of time, his attitude and spirit towards movies will also be preserved by his comrades and fans. Thank you all again.”

His company, Sinomovie, will reportedly continue to operate, but will no longer make movies.

At the news, Film at Lincoln Center posted the following late yesterday:

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