Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee announced today (Aug 24) the annual Lifetime Achievement Award recipient for the 57th Golden Horse Awards to be acclaimed director Hou Hsiao-hsien. This is a unanimous decision in recognition of his distinguished accomplishment in cinematic aesthetics and his dedication to passing on the heritage of cinematic arts. Upon notification of the award, Hou Hsiao-hsien notes, “I love cinema and therefore I make movies. This is what I have faith in.” The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, November 21st at National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan.

Hou began his film career in 1973 as a script supervisor, and  took on other roles such as script writer and assistant director before becoming a director. In 1980, he made his directorial debut Cute Girl. In the 1980s, Hou established himself as the lead icon of the Taiwan New Cinema movement with The Boys from Fengkuei (1983), A Summer at Grandpa’s (1984), The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985), and Dust in the Wind (1986). In 1989, his A City of Sadness won the Golden Lion award at Venice, marking the first Taiwanese film crowned with the top prize at one of the three biggest international film festivals.

Hou has been a regular to the Cannes Film Festival since The Puppetmaster (1993) won its Jury Prize, followed by multiple entries such as Good Men, Good Women (1995), Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996), Flowers of Shanghai (1998), Millennium Mambo (2001), and Three Times (2005). In 2015, Hou won the Best Director at Cannes for The Assassin.

For the Golden Horse Awards, Hou Hsiao-hsien has scored three awards for Best Director (A City of Sadness, Good Men, Good Women, and The Assassin), two for Best Adapted Screenplay (Growing Up in 1983 and Ah Fei in 1984), and one for Best Original Screenplay (The Time to Live and the Time to Die). He has also been selected as the Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year in 2005 and 2015.

For his vast accomplishment in directing and writing, Hou was also named Taiwan’s Greatest Filmmaker by The New York Times in May 2020. He is truly committed to elevating the quality of filmmaking and cultivating the upcoming talents of Taiwan cinema,  a mission shared by many of his long-time collaborators. In 2009, he established the Golden Horse Film Academy. His legacy spans from the marvelous films he made to his comprehensive contributions in the film industry.