WONG KAR WAI - Director & Screenwriter

WONG KAR WAI is acknowledged as one of the most exciting and influential direct-
ors in contemporary world cinema. His concerns are typically suppressed desire,
isolation, memory, and the loneliness of urban landscapes; his style is dense, mo-
ody and lushly atmospheric. Wong belongs to the mid-1980s Second New Wave of
Hong Kong filmmakers, which also includes directors Eddie Fong, Stanley Kwan
and Clara Law.The Second Wave, is often seen as a continuation of the First, as
many of these directors worked as assistants to First Wave directors such as Tsui
Hark, Ann Hui and Patrick Tam (with whom Wong collaborated).

Born in 1958 in Shanghai, Wong moved to Hong Kong with his parents when he was five years
old. He obtained a diploma in graphic design from Hong Kong Polytechnic School, and became a
television production assistant. Working on several TV drama series, he became a scriptwriter
for TV and later for films in the 1980’s, including 'The Final Victory' (1987), which his mentor
Patrick Tam directed.
Wong Kar Wai's directorial debut, 'As Tears Go By' (1988), gave him the opportunity to work with
actress Maggie Cheung for the first time. The film, which established Wong's strong visual style,
introduced him to the world film community as an up-and-coming talent at the 1989 Cannes Inter-
national Film Festival, where it screened during 'Critics' Week'.
Wong gathered together Hong Kong's most popular young stars (including Maggie Cheung and
Tony Leung) for his next project, 'Days of Being Wild' (1991). The film, set in a vividly imagined
1960, won five Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor (Les-
lie Cheung). The project was planned as the first of two-parts, but the second was never made. In 1992, he convened another all-star cast of Hong Kong actors to make a period martial-arts
drama, one which deliberately went against all the codes of the genre, in remote regions of China.
The shoot for 'Ashes of Time' lasted nearly two years. The film world-premiered at the 1994
Venice Film Festival, where it won the Award for Best Cinematography for Christopher Doyle.
During a break in the post-production of 'Ashes of Time' Wong made 'Chunking Express' (1994),
an up-to-the-minute comedy of longing and romance. Tony Leung, Faye Wong and Brigitte Lin
starred in the film, which became a cult hit in many countries. 'Fallen Angels', based on an idea
for a sketch that was written for 'Chunking Express' but dropped at the last minute, premiered at
the 1995 Toronto Film Festival to widespread critical acclaim. The following year, he made a
short film, entitled WKW/TK/1996@7’55”HT.NET.
'Happy Together', about two Chinese gay men exiled in Argentina during the hand-over of Hong
Kong to China, was filmed on location (with pick-up shots done in Taipei). The film world-prem-
iered at the 1997 Cannes International Film Festival, where Wong was awarded the Best Director
prize. The film, which starred Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung, also featured Chang Chen, star of
'The Hand'.
'In the Moood for Love', reuniting Wong with Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, was filmed in Hong
Kong, Thailand, and at Angkor Wat (in Cambodia). At the 2000 Cannes International Film Festival,
the film received awards for Best Actor (Tony Leung) and its three cinematographers. It also
won prizes for Best Foreign Film and Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle and Pin Bing Lee)
from the New York Film Critics Circle the following year. Wong next shot the short film, 'The
Follow', starring Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke, for the BMW series 'The Hire'. The series also
includes shorts by John Woo, Ang Lee, Tony Scott and Alejandro González Iñárritu. He also di-
rected a video for DJ Shadow called Six Days, which featured Chang Chen.
Upcoming for Wong Kar Wai is his first science fiction film, 2046, which was shot in various Asian countries with an international cast, including Gong Li, Chang Chen, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, and Faye Wong.


STEVEN SODERBERGH - Director

Since his bold debut on the international film scene in 1989 with 'Sex, Lies and
Videotape', STEVEN SODERBERGH has continued to be one of the world’s most
celebrated directors, balancing high-level Hollywood success with bold, experi-
mental work. To date, Soderbergh is the only director to have two films - 'Traffic'
and ERIN BROCKOVICH - nominated for Best Picture and Best Director in the same
year (2000). His Academy Award for Best Director of 'Traffic' marks the first time
since the 1928/29 Awards that a director has successfully competed against him-
self.

TRAFFIC also received Oscars for Editing, Supporting Actor (Benicio del Toro) and Adapted
Screenplay. Julia Roberts received the Best Actress Academy Award for the title role in 'Erin
Brockovich', and the film also received nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Albert Finney),
Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Steven Soderbergh grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he
began making short films as a teenager. After studying film at Louisiana State University, he
moved to Los Angeles where he worked as an editor and wrote screenplays. In 1986, he made
a full-length concert film 'YES: 9012 LIVE', for which he received a Grammy nomination.
Soderbergh’s first feature as a writer/director, 'Sex, Lies and Videotape' (1989) created a sen-
sation at its debut at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes,
and become a huge critical and popular success upon its release. It also won the Independent
Spirit Award for Best Director and an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay,
among other prizes.
He followed with 'Kafka' (1991), the depression era drama 'King of the Hill' (1993), the modern
film noir 'The Underneath' (1995), the Spalding Gray documentary Gra's Anatomy' (1996) and
the experimental satire 'Schizopolis' (1996). 'Out of Sight' (1998), an Elmore Leonard adaptation
starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, became one of Soderbergh’s biggest successes.
It was followed by another acclaimed film, 'The Limey' (1999), starring Terence Stamp.
After 'Traffic' and 'Erin Brockovich', Soderbergh directed the retelling of 'Ocean's Eleven' (2001),
the fabled 1960’s Rat Pack film starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt,
Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle and Bernie Mac. Switching gears, Soderbergh made a low-budget
comedy on digital video, 'Full Frontal' (2002), which starred David Duchovny, Nicky Katt, Cath-
erine Keener, Mary McCormack, David Hyde Pierce, Julia Roberts and Blair Underwood.
He then made 'Solaris' (2002), a new adapation of the classic science fiction novel by Stanislaw
Lem, which starred George Clooney, Natascha McElhone and Jeremy Davies.
In addition to his credits as a director, Soderbergh served as producer on Greg Mottola’s 'The
Daytrippers' (1997) and on Gary Ross’ Pleasantive' (1998). He also was executive producer on
David Siegel and Scot McGehee’s 'Suturs' (1994), Godfrey Reggio’s 'Nagoyqatsi' (2002), and
Graham Robertson’s 'Able Edwards' (2004).
In 2000, Soderbergh and George Clooney formed Section Eight, a film production company
based at Warner Bros. dedicated to helping worthy filmmakers realize their vision. Section Eight
has since produced or executive produced such films as Anthony and Joe Russo’s 'Welcome
To Collinwood', George Clooney’s 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind', Christopher Nolan’s 'In-
somnia', and Todd Haynes’ 'Far From Heaven'. Among the upcoming Section Eight projects are
Gregory Jacobs’ CRIMINAL, Don Cheadle’s 'Tishimingo Blues', David Gordon Green’s 'A Confed-
eracy of Dunces', and Richard Linklater’s 'A Scanner Darkly'.
Recently, Section 8 produced and Soderbergh directed the highly praised HBO series 'K Street', which blended Washington insiders like James Carville and Mary Matalin with its semi-fictional story. His next two projects as director were 'Oceans Twelve', for which he has reassembled the original cast of his hit film 'Oceans Eleven', and 'Ché' CHÉ, Benicio del Toro.

MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI - Director

MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI has been universally recognized as one of the great
masters of cinema, celebrated for such classic films as 'L'Avventura', 'La Notte',
'Eclipse', 'The Red Desert', 'Blowup', and 'The Passenger'. His contribution was to
bring the language of modern art to narrative films--to communicate the alienation,
fragmentation and confusion of the contemporary world through his visionary
images.
Antonioni was born in the northern Italian city of Ferrara in 1912. As an under-

graduate at the University of Bologna, he wrote for the theater and film criticism for the magazine
Cinema. He later attended film school at the Centro Sperimentale. Antonioni began his work in film
as a screenwriter and assistant director in the early 1940's, and in the later half of that decade,
he made six short documentaries. When Antonioni was 38 years old, he directed his first fiction
feature, 'Cronaca di un Amore' (Story of a LOve Affair, 1950), and then made four other films in
the mid-1950's, including 'Le Amice' (The Girl Friends, 1955) and 'Il Grido' (The Outcry, 1957).
Antonioni burst into international prominence with the 1960 Cannes Film Festival premiere of
'L'Avventura' (The Adventure). While the film was repeatedly booed at the screening due to its
slow pace, it was given a Special Jury Award for 'a new movie language and the beauty of its
images'. It didn’t take long for the quality of the film to be more generally appreciated, and by 1962, 'L'Avventura' placed second on the Sight and Sound critics poll for the ten best films in history
'L'Avventura' was the first part of a projected trilogy, and it was quickly followed by the second
and third parts, 'La Notte' (The Night, 1961) and 'L'Eclisse' (Eclipse, 1962), and his first colour
film, 'Red Desert' (1964), all of which starred Monica Vitti. After 'Red Desert', Antonioni began to
make films in other countries, beginning with 'Blow Up' (1966), made in Britain, which became an
enormous worldwide commercial success. He then made 'Zabriskie Point' (1970) in the United
States and 'The Passenger' (1975), which starred Jack Nicholson, in Africa and England. During
this time, Antonioni visited China to make a four-hour television documentary.
Antonioni made only two feature films in the 1980’s, 'The Mystery of Oberwald' (1981), shot on
video, and 'Identification of A Woman' (1982). In 1985, he was partially paralyzed by a stroke
and became unable to speak. He came back to cinema in 1995 with 'Beyond the Clouds'. Based
on four of his short stories, the film was a collaboration with Wim Wenders, who served as a
standby director and also directed a sequence to link the four films. Antonioni and Wenders won
a FIPRESCI prize at Venice for the film.
In 1995, Antonioni won a special Academy Award for his lifetime achievement in film. (He had
previously been nominated as Best Director and Best Original Screennplay for 'Blow Up').
Among the countless prizes he has been awarded for his films and body of work include: a Gol-
den Bear at Berlin for 'La Notte', a Golden Lion at Venice for 'Red Desert' (plus a 1983 Career
Golden Lion), and a Golden Palm at Cannes for 'Blow Up'.