After struggling with cancer for 7 years, Edward Yang has passed away. It's very sad news, especially since he'd been able to complete relatively few films. YI YI (one of the greatest films of the '00s) turned out to be his international breakthrough, but Yang never got to take advantage of its success since he was diagnosed with cancer soon after its release. Does anyone know if his animated film got anywhere close to production?

Didn't realize that Edward Yang -- a director whose filmography I'm far less familiar with than I would like -- had been struggling with cancer for seven years so the news of his death came as a shock for me.

The following are a few hopefully pertinent links:-

Confirmation of his death from the "International Herald Tribune":-
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/01/...Edward-Yang.php

An interview with "The Guardian" around the time of YI YI's release in the U.K.:-
http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/inter...,467824,00.html

A piece by Jonathan Rosenbaum on the films of Edward Yang entitled "Exiles in Modernity":-
http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/1197/11077.html

A focus piece in "Senses of Cinema":-
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/dir...rs/02/yang.html

Oh, this is an awful shock. One of the most distinctive talents in world cinema, gone much too soon.

I saw A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY a few years ago theatrically. At four hours, it might qualify as the longest single movie I've ever seen, if you don't count made-for-TV miniseries and other works made to be viewed in installments. It's a staggering achievement and actually absorbing and powerful through its entire length. But I'd had no idea of its singlehanded importance to the Taiwanese cinema until I read that first linked article.

I'd been looking forward for quite a while to his very "change of pace" next project. It's very sad that the world will never find out what an animated collaboration between Edward Yang and Jackie Chan would have been like.

Tragic news. I vividly remember catching Channel 4's screening of TAIPEI STORY in the early 90s, and instantly realizing that I was watching the work of a world-class filmmaker.

Did I just imagine it or was there an earlier related thread this weekend that seems to have vanished?

It's a shame that A Brighter Summer Day is generally unavailable on video.

And fans of this film should also check out Shanghai Dreams which struck many similar chords with me.

Hello,

There's an interview with Hou Hsiao-hsien in the _China Times_ that features the desultory headline "Edward Yang has passed away-- and so has the future of the Taiwanese New Wave." See:

http://news.chinatimes.com/2007Cti/2007Cti...14011+0,00.html

One thinks not, however. I leave fellow fans with a glimpse of things to come: the trailer to <<Le ballon rouge>> set to Tsai Chin's "Forgotten Time" in French. As we all know, that song was the unofficial theme to "Infernal Affairs" and Tsai, Edward Yang's ex-wife. It's almost unbearable to listen to the original in Mandarin now but somehow, it's pretty soothing in French. See:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXcL4L6Nubo

Here's the original for you masochists out there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDIM_ysjLFQ

BTW, the animated film with Jackie Chan was never made; however, who says Chen Kuo-fu can't tackle it one day?

BTW, for those interested, see below:

"In Our Time" (1982) DVD
http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/dvd/dvdf...item=D020010843

"That Day on the Beach" (1983) VHS
http://www.facets.org [do a search for "Edward Yang"]

"Taipei Story" (1985) VCD [eBay acution]
http://cgi.ebay.com/Edward-Yang-Hou-Hsiao-...0QQcmdZViewItem

"The Terrorizers" (1986) DVD
http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/aid-...pid-1004041045/

"A Brighter Summer's Day" (1991) VCD [eBay acution]
http://cgi.ebay.com/A-BRIGHTER-SUMMER-DAY-...1QQcmdZViewItem

"A Confucian Confusion" (1994) DVD
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...OI/ryurinsya-22

"Mahjong" (1996) VCD [eBay acution]
http://cgi.ebay.com/Edward-Yang-Mahjong-Vi...1QQcmdZViewItem

see also this DVD
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...OH/ryurinsya-22

"Yi Yi" (2000) DVD
http://www.amazon.com/Yi-One-Two-Nien-Jen-Wu/dp/B000059TON