Hsiao Hsien Hou

This book explores the aesthetic and ethical ways in which history and daily life are filmically represented and witnessed in Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s movies. From the era of the Japanese Occupation to the White Horror and then to the lifting of martial law, the author shows how Hou Hsiao-hsien uses visual media to evoke the rhythms of daily life through the emotional memory of the characters and communities he explores. In particular, the book focuses on the ways in which Hou Hsiao-hsien seeks to reflect the strong dilemmas of identity and the traumatic emotions associated with witnessing history. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it investigates the concepts of daily life, representation and historical trauma in order to focus on how these films represent history and political trauma through the nature of daily life and personal memories, and the resulting historical responsibility and ethics. This is the first academic monography about Hou Hsiao-hsien’s films.

The semi-autobiographical film on director Hou Hsiao-Hsien's childhood and adolescence, when he was growing up in Taiwan, living through the deaths of his father, mother and grandmother.

S.E.N.S. is a Japanese new age instrumental group formed in 1988, originally with two members. The name stands for "Sound, Earth, Nature, and Spirit" based on their spiritual policy. The members are Akihiko Fukaura & Yukari Katsuki. They are responsible for a large number of music, such as CM movie, TV documentaries, and drama. In 1989 they are composed and performed the soundtrack for a Taiwanese historical drama "A City of Sadness" directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien.

This Hou Hsiao Hsien masterpiece is a portrait of the childhood and adolescence of octogenarian Taiwanese puppet master and actor Li T'ien-lu, who narrates the film both off-screen and on-screen.