The Visiting Artists Program resource guides contain upcoming speakers' biographies, articles, video and audio content, related publications in the Flaxman Library, and additional online resources. These guides may be used in the classroom in preparation for the event, research, or post-lecture discussion.
Tsai Ming-Liang: Monday, October 3, 6:00–7:30 p.m.
Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.
This event will be live captioned by Communication Access Realtime Translation services.
Join us in person for a lecture by film director Tsai Ming-Liang followed by an audience Q&A. This event is free. Tickets can be obtained at the Gene Siskel Film Center box office beginning one hour prior to the presentation start time.
Screenings of Tsai Ming-Liang’s films GOODBYE, DRAGON INN (2003), STRAY DOGS (2013), and DAYS (2020) will take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center in September. View the full schedule at siskelfilmcenter.org/tsai.
Born in Malaysia in 1957, Tsai Ming-Liang is one of the most prominent film directors of the new cinema movement in Taiwan. He is known for long shots, elliptical narratives, painterly approaches to light and color, and poignant portrayals of urban and sexual alienation.
In 1994, Tsai’s film VIVE L'AMOUR was awarded the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, and this helped establish a place for him in the world of international film. In 2009, FACE became the first film to be included in the collection of the Louvre Museum’s program Le Louvre s'offre aux cinéastes. It has since become the benchmark for films venturing into the realm of art galleries. In recent years, Tsai has focused on installation art and his works have been well-received in Venice, Italy; Shanghai, China; and Nagoya, Japan.
At the invitation of the National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center in 2011, Tsai returned to theater performance after a 27-year absence with three monodramas entitled Only You. Since 2012, he has been working on a long-term project filming actor Lee Kang-Sheng's slow walk, collaborating with various cities and organizations. To date, Tsai has completed seven short works. His full-length feature STRAY DOGS (2013) was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 70th Venice Film Festival. In 2014, he presented the critically acclaimed theater work The Monk From Tang Dynasty at arts festivals in Brussels, Vienna, and Taipei. That same year, Tsai made history by bringing his work into the museum space with the solo video installation exhibition Stray Dogs at the Museum at the Museum of National Taipei University of Education.
Presented in partnership with SAIC’s Visiting Artists Program, the Gene Siskel Film Center, and the Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation’s Conversations at the Edge series.
Portrait credit: Tsai Ming-Liang. Photo: Claude Wang
The Best Movies You've Never Seen: The Everlasting Importance of Ming-Liang Tsai Film 'The Hole’
Calum Russell | Far Out Magazine | May 25, 2022
‘Vive L’Amour’ Restoration Trailer: Tsai Ming-Liang’s Classic Returns to the Big Screen
Christian Zilko | Indie Wire | February 25, 2022
In Taiwan’s Mountains, A Director Works to Slow Down Life
Dennis Zhou | The New Yorker | August 28, 2021
Tsai Ming-Liang Short ‘The Moon and the Tree’ to World Premiere at Taipei Film Festival
Rebecca Davis | Variety | August 23, 2021
Tsai takes his time in stunning 'Days'; Taiwanese auteur returns with deeply moving tale of a destined encounter
Justin Chang | Los Angeles Times | August 16, 2021
*This is a library resource that requires ARTIC login
Tsai Ming-Liang: 90 Minutes with the Slow Cinema Master
Matthew Thrift | British Film Institute | April 5, 2019
Tsai Ming-Liang: Master of Long Takes and Watermelon Sex
Steve Rose | The Guardian | April 4, 2019
The Wayward Cloud by 
Vive L'Amour by 
Tsai Ming-Liang and a Cinema of Slowness by 
Cinematic Encounters 2 by 
The Long Take by 
The Long Take by 
Slow Cinema by 
Traditions in World Cinema by 
The Story of Film by Tsai Ming-Liang 2022 Tour
Tsai Ming-Liang’s postponed 2020 U.S. tour has been rescheduled for Fall 2022. Tsai will visit Chicago, New York City and D.C. for public programs and major retrospectives.
Visiting Artists Program Lecture Recordings from the Archive
SAIC Visiting Artists Program video and audio lecture recordings (1977–present.) Available with SAIC login credentials.
SAIC Digital Collections: Visiting Artists Program
SAIC Visiting Artists Program publicity archive and audio recordings (1977–98).
