Ann Hui's films under the influence of Hou Hsiao-hsien

Abstract

This thesis examines the director-on-director influence between two internationally acclaimed film directors—Hong Kong’s Ann Hui (许鞍华, in Chinese) and Taiwan’s Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝贤). I examine Hou’s influence on Hui by comparing their films, and I assert that Hui borrows from Hou’s cinematic style—a style I call neorealism in a Chinese mode, which Hou developed as part of the Taiwanese New Wave movement in the 1980s. More specifically, I argue that identity negotiation in Hou’s films inspired Hui to explore Hong Kong’s cultural identity in her own films.