My New Friend

He centres his work on his very frank conversations with two young HIV-positive boys. Although the identity of the people questioned must be concealed, the camera angle focusing mainly on the filmmaker himself, the power of the rapport between the director and his "new friends" is palpable and moving, even for western spectators who are familiar with these questions. 

 
Tsai Ming-Liang, My New Friend. Taiwan, 1996, 56 min, video, colour, original version with French subtitles 

Followed by: 

Tsai Ming-Liang, The Night. Taiwan, 2021, 19 min, DCP, colour, original version with French subtitles 

In 2019, Hong Kong nights were still enveloped in a hypnotic beauty, despite the gradual changes in the political life of the island. Strolling through the streets of Causeway Bay, Tsai Ming-Liang documents the rhythm, the ambience of the city and of a pedestrian overpass while remembering an old refrain, "The beautiful night is slipping away. I hate to see you go. Why must our happiness end so soon? Why must we part when we are only just beginning?" 

"The title of the film, Liang ye bu neng liu (The Beautiful Night is Slipping Away), is inspired by a Chinese song from the 1940s. In late 2019, I was invited to share and to perform some old songs in Hong Kong. It was a tumultuous period for the island. Having grown up in South East Asia, Hong Kong has always been a city that is dear to my heart, and as I saw the events taking place on the island, I couldn't help feeling a sort of emotional distress. One night, after the turmoil of the day, I began to film the streets of Causeway Bay, that's how I came to make this short film." Tsai Ming-Liang, for the Venice Biennale, 2021 

And by: 

Tsai Ming-Liang, The Moon and the Tree. Taiwan, 2021, 34 min, DCP, colour, original version with French subtitles  
With Feng Chang, Lee Pei-Jing, Siti Imronah Roslan Hono  

This short documentary follows two ageing Taiwanese stars. Ever since a failed operation on her spine forty years ago, Lee Pei-Jing, alias "Moon Singer", has been confined to a wheelchair. Actor Chang Feng is nearly a hundred years old.