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Vivian Chen

Tom Lin Shu-yu's  feature-length directorial debut Winds of September is the first part of a trilogy produced by veteran Hong Kong filmmaker Eric Tsang Chi-wai.  Filmed in the 32-year-old Taiwanese writer-director's hometown of Hsinchu,  it  portrays nine high school students' bitter-sweet adolescent lives.
What are the 'winds of September'?
My hometown Hsinchu is also called 'the wind city'.  Strong winds  from the China Sea  blow across the city every September. For me, Hsinchu and the winds are  inseparable and  are  connected to my  teenage years. I always knew I was going to make a film about Hsinchu.   I decided on the title even before I started writing the script in 2004. Youth is like the invisible and uncontrollable winds in Hsinchu, the soft and gentle breeze can become strong and harsh.
Is the story based on your own experiences at high school?
Edward Yang De-chang  and Hou Hsiao-hsien,  directors from the Taiwan New Wave,  are great sources of inspiration - in terms of their spirit and ideology, rather than  technique and visual styles. Both  made films  about their teenage lives. When I got the chance to make a film of my own, I  wanted to tell a  similar story - an updated version  for my generation.
How is Winds of September different from other Taiwanese youth-oriented films?
Many of the others  focus on  romance, especially homosexual love as seen in Blue Gate Crossing   and Eternal Summer.  I think Winds of September is more ambitious in  the way it depicts the teenagers' friendships against the background of an evolving society - Taiwan in the 1990s. The film is all about how the young build their self-esteem and lose their innocence.
When did you realise you  wanted to be a filmmaker?
Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day    was so influential on me,  it was the reason  I first got interested  in making films. After watching it, when I was about 14 years old, I wanted to make a film just like that. The film was three hours long, and, for the first time, I  didn't want it to stop. I am the same age as Chang Chen who starred in the film, and  that's maybe another reason why I felt so connected to the film. I couldn't stop thinking of the plot and the characters even days after  I had watched it.
As a first-time director what was the biggest challenge for you?
I've worked as an assistant director for many years. It has been great training  and allowed me to work  with many  directors.  So making feature-length films  is nothing new   to me. The toughest challenges are the ones I set for myself, such as  casting nine new actors.
What were the best and worst aspects of working with these first-time actors?
The best part  was how I felt  young and vibrant while hanging around with them. What I  found most satisfying  was    seeing the  improvement in the acting skills of all nine of them.
What do you enjoy most  about directing?
I enjoy being on set the most.  Being a director can be addictive.
So what's  next for you?
I don't know yet. The success of Winds of September has been rather overwhelming. I think I will relax  for a while, maybe until the Lunar  New Year.
Winds of September is screening now



Tom Lin