Chen Kunhou

After series of urban comedies, he made quite a few representative films of the Taiwan New Cinema, such as Growing Up (1983), which won him the best director award at the Golden Horse Awards, His Matrimony (結婚; 1985), which won him the second best cinematography award at Golden Horse Awards, and My Favorite Season (最想念的季節; 1985), and Osmanthus Alley (1987). He is awarded for his life achievement in Taiwan cinema at the 60th Golden Horse Awards in 2023.

Chen Kun-hou was born in Taichung in 1939. He was enrolled in Central Motion Picture Corporation in 1962 to learn cinematography. His uncle Lai Cheng-ying was an established cinematographer there at CMPC already. He started as an apprentice and was promoted to cinematographer in 1971. His first film as a cinematographer is Story of Mother (母親三十歲; 1973), in which his cinematography adds a tragic-realistic tone this highly acclaimed film by Sung Cun-shou (宋存壽). He worked with Li Hsing for many of his films in the late 1970s, including He Never Gives Up, Good Morning Taipei (早安台北; 1979), The Story of A Small Town (1979), and My Native Land (1980). He won his first best cinematography award at Golden Horse Awards for his cinematography in He Never Gives Up in 1978. Starting from 1979, Chen Kun-hou and Hou Hsiao-hsien teamed up to produce six romantic urban comedy films by taking turns to be the director, four of which directed by Chen are Spring in Autumn (天涼好個秋; 1980), Lover on the Wave (我踏浪而來; 1980), Longing (蹦蹦一串心; 1981), and Six Is Company (俏如彩蝶飛飛飛; 1982) and the other two directed by Hou are Cute Girl (1980) and Cheerful Wind (1982). These films copied the successful formula of Chiung Yao's literary romantic films to cast popular stars, such as Chin Han, Kenny Bee, Joan Lin, Fong Fei-fei, and Shen Yan (沈雁), to present light-hearted urban romance accompanied by namesake theme songs and other interlude songs. Two of the six films were arranged to premiere in theaters during the Lunar New Year, Cute Girl and Cheerful Wind, both project the new year blessing of “May you be happy and prosperous” (恭喜發財) at the end of the film on the screen. In 1982, Chen Kun-hou, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Hsu Shu-zhen (許淑真), and Chang Hua-kun (張華坤) formed Evergreen Film Company (萬年青影業公司). The company’s first film Growing Up, a collaboration with CMPC and directed by Chen, was a big success at the box office (NT$6,309,066 in Taipei City), and it won the best feature film, best director, and best script at the Golden Horse Awards in 1983. The company also produced The Boys from Fengkuei (風櫃來的人; 1983), directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien with Chen as the cinematographer. The film was Hou’s important first film with artistic consciousness of film form but it was also the last film he and Chen collaborated on. After Chen Kun-hou parted ways with Hou Hsiao-hsien, he was productive as a key director of the Taiwan New Cinema and made six films, mostly adaptations of literary works, from 1984 to 1988, including Out of The Blue (小爸爸的天空; 1984), His Matrimony, My Favorite Season, Drifters (流浪少年路; 1986), Osmanthus Alley, My Mother's Teahouse (1988). He won another best cinematography award at the Golden Horse Awards in 1985 for His Matrimony. Starting from 1989, Chen Kun-hou began to be involved in TV productions, especially documentaries, such as Feiyue Qingchun (飛越青春; 1992) and The Story of Confucius (孔子的故事; 1993). He later went to China and help Chow Ling-Gong (周令剛) establish Fee Tang Stellar Movie-Making Base (飛騰影視城; now Mega Jincheng Movie-Making Base) at Beijing. He directed three more feature films from 2008 to 2012, two of them are made in China: Twin Daggers (雙鏢; 2008) and The Triangle Land (三角地/幸福三角地; 2012) and one Taiwan production: Colorful Mind (新魯冰花：孩子的天空; 2009), a remake of The Dull-Ice Flower (魯冰花; 1989), a popular film based on the namesake novel by Chung Chao-cheng.

Director • Year — Chinese title — English title — Notes • 1980 — 《天涼好個秋》 — Spring in Autumn • 1980 — 《我踏浪而來》 — Lover on the Wave • 1981 — 《蹦蹦一串心》 — Longing • 1982 — 《俏如彩蝶飛飛飛》 — Six Is Company • 1983 — 《小畢的故事》 — Growing Up • 1984 — 《小爸爸的天空》 — Out of The Blue • 1985 — 《結婚》 — His Matrimony • 1985 — 《最想念的季節》 — My Favorite Season • 1986 — 《流浪少年路》 — Drifters • 1987 — 《桂花巷》 — Osmanthus Alley • 1988 — 《春秋茶室》 — My Mother's Teahouse • 1992 — 《飛躍青春》 — documentary • 1993 — 《孔子的故事》 — Confucious — documentary • 2008 — 《雙鏢》 — Twin Daggers • 2009 — 《新魯冰花：孩子的天空》 — Colorful Mind • 2012 — 《三角地》/《幸福三角地》 — The Triangle Land Cinematographer • Year — Chinese title — English title — Notes • 1969 — 《銀姑》 — Silver Maid • 1971 — 《精忠報國》 — The Decisive Battle • 1973 — 《母親三十歲》 — Story of Mother • 1975 — 《星期六的約會》 — A Saturday Date • 1977 — 《煙水寒》 — The Glory of The Sunset • 1978 — 《煙波江上》 — Love On A Foggy River • 1978 — 《汪洋中的一條船》 — He Never Gives Up • 1978 — 《碎心蘭》 • 1979 — 《悲之秋》 — A Sorrowful Wedding • 1979 — 《早安台北》 — Good Morning, Taipei • 1979 — 《小城故事》 — The Story of a Small Town • 1979 — 《拒絕聯考的小子》 — The Boy Who Refused to Take the Entrance Examination • 1980 — 《西風的故鄉》 — The Blind Love • 1980 — 《天涼好個秋》 — Spring in Autumn • 1980 — 《原鄉人》 — My Native Land • 1980 — 《我踏浪而來》 — Lover on the Wave • 1981 — 《就是溜溜的她》 — Cute Girls • 1981 — 《歡喜冤家》 — Intimate But Quarrelsome • 1981 — 《蹦蹦一串心》 — Longing • 1982 — 《俏如彩蝶飛飛飛》 — Six Is Company • 1982 — 《在那河畔青草青》 — Green Green Grass of Home • 1982 — 《風兒踢踏踩》 — Cheerful Wind • 1983 — 《風櫃來的人》 — The Boys From Fengkuei • 1983 — 《小畢的故事》 — Growing Up • 1983 — 《兒子的大玩偶》 — The Sandwich Man • 1984 — 《冬冬的假期》 — A Summer at Grandpa’s • 1984 — 《小爸爸的天空》 — Out of The Blue • 1985 — 《結婚》 — His Matrimony • 1985 — 《最想念的季節》 — My Favorite Season • 1988 — 《春秋茶室》 — My Mother's Teahouse • 1988 — 《海峽兩岸》 — People Between Two CHINA • 1990 — 《祝福》 — Promising Miss Bowie • 1992 — 《飛躍青春》 — documentary