Hou Hsiao-hsien

Known for: A City of Sadness (1989), The Flowers of Shanghai (1998)

Hou Hsiao-hsien developed a cinema of extreme long takes and distanced, often partially obscured observation that captured the social and personal rhythms of Taiwanese life across the late twentieth century. A City of Sadness (1989) — the first film to address the 1947 massacre of Taiwanese civilians — won the Golden Lion at Venice. His work has been widely cited as an influence on filmmakers from Martin Scorsese to Jia Zhangke.