Yang Dechang,
Taiwanese film director (born Sept. 24, 1947, Shanghai, China—died June 29,
2007, Beverly Hills, Calif.), was in the vanguard of the Taiwanese New Wave, a
1980s movement that brought international attention to the island state with
films that probed political, economic, and social issues in Taiwan’s rapidly
changing environment. Yang made his full-length-film debut in 1983 with Haitan
de yitian (“That Day, on the Beach”), which chronicled the reunion of two women
after a 13-year separation and how their reminiscences help free them from
their pasts. His next two films, Qingmei Zhuma (1985; “Taipei Story”) and
Kongbu fenzi (1986; “The Terrorizers”), explored social change. Yang’s Guling
jie shaonian sha ren shijian (1991; A Brighter Summer Day) focused on the
street-gang culture of the 1960s and won numerous awards. Yang also taught at
the National Institute for the Arts in Taipei and collaborated with his
students and former students on such films as Duli shidai (1994; “A Confucian
Confusion”) and Majiang (1996; “Mahjong”). At the 2000 Cannes Festival, Yang
won the best director award for Yi yi (Yi Yi: A One and a Two …), an
intricately structured family saga seen from various perspectives. At the time
of his death, Yang was working with actor Jackie Chan on The Wind, an animated
kung fu film.
A Brighter Summer Day
Produced by : Yu Wei-yen, Jan
Hung-tze, Edward Yang
Cinematography : Chang
Hui-kung, Li Long-yu
Edited by : Bowen Chen
Production company : Yang
& His Gang Filmmakers, Jane Balfour Films
Distributed by : Cine Qua Non
Films
Release date : July 27, 1991
Running time : 237 minutes
In Our Time
Produced by : Ming Che
Music by : Chen Yunshan
Cinematography : Chen Chia-mao
Edited by : Liao Ching-song
Production company : Central
Motion Picture Corporation
Release date : 28 August 1982
Running time : 109 minutes
Taipei Story
Produced by : Huang Yung, Lin
Jung-feng, Liu Sheng-chung
Written by : Chu T’ien-wen, Hou
Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang
Cinematography : Yang Wei-han
Edited by : Wang Chi-yang, Sung
Fan-chen
Release date : 1985
Running time : 110 minutes
Country : Taiwan
Terrorizers
Produced by : Hsu Kuo-liang
Written by : Hsiao Yeh, Edward
Yang
Cinematography : Chang Chan
Edited by : Liao Ching-song
Production company : Central
Motion Pictures
Release date : December 19,
1986
Running time : 110 minutes
Country : Taiwan
Language : Mandarin
Produced by : Shinya Kawai
Written by : Edward Yang
Cinematography : Wei-han Yang
Edited by : Bo-Wen Chen
Distributed by : Kuzui
Enterprises
Release date : May 14, 2000
Running time : 173 minutes
Country : Taiwan, Japan
Language : Mandarin, Taiwanese,
Japanese, English
