After film studies at the Taiwan National University of Arts, Hou Hsiao-Hsien worked as an assistant director, notably for Li Hsing. In 1980, he directed his first feature, Cute Girl, followed by The Boys from Fengkuei in 1984. A winner at the Three Continents Festival, this semi-autobiographical tale marked his first collaboration with Chu Tien-Wen, who would become his regular screenwriter. Three highly personal films, largely inspired by his own life, followed: A Summer at Grandpa’s (1984); A Time to Live, A Time to Die (1985, FIPRESCI Award, Berlin); and Dust in the Wind (1986). In 1989, he won the Golden Lion in Venice for A City of Sadness, continuing with The Puppetmaster (1993, Jury Prize, Cannes); Good Men, Good Women (1995); Goodbye South, Goodbye (1997); Flowers of Shanghai (1998); Millennium Mambo (2001); Café Lumiere (2003); and Three Times (2005), his sixth selection in Cannes. In 2008, Flight of the Red Balloon was presented at Cannes in Un Certain Regard. Hou’s powerful and unique filmmaking has also garnered the attention of several documentary makers, including Olivier Assayas , Todd McCarthy, and Jia Zhang Ke.