Filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang on sexuality and being touched by a goddess

GOLDEN AGE I grew up in the ’60s. Then, all people watched movies. It wasn’t like now, where you have all sorts of entertainment. It was the golden age of cinema. I was born in a small town in Malaysia called Kuching, which had about a dozen theatres and I spent my childhood there, watching two films a night. I was brought up by my grand­parents, who sold noodles. My parents also sold noodles but they had too many children, so my grandparents took care of me. I would take turns going with one of them to watch movies. I watched old Cantonese films, those made by the Shaw brothers, American movies, Hollywood blockbusters, Malaysian films and Bollywood ones.

ANOTHER WORLD When I went to Taiwan for uni­versity, I picked drama and film. I wasn’t sure what the difference was between film and theatre, but I had a life-changing moment there. At that time, [Asian territories] were either very conservative and isolated, like mainland China, or more liberal, like Hong Kong and Taiwan. The only films available to those in the latter were commercial and politically correct ones. There were two factors that determined the content of our films – government and businessmen. They decided what we could or could not watch and what should be cut out. I didn’t know there was another world of movies. Suddenly, martial law was lifted and we had freedom of expression, so things and information exploded and we were quickly liberalised. Taiwan was one of the first places to hold film festivals and have film archives. I was only a university student but I became a cineaste. I finally saw all the movies that weren’t accessible when I had been younger – classic movies and art films.

SUFFERING FOR HIS ART Everyone says the most difficult part of making movies is finance. But, if you want to earn money, don’t make independent films – although if you do it well, you will be able to earn some. [Making films in the United States is] even more difficult; you have to con­sider the box office earnings and you are controlled by your boss and audi­ences. It’s the same with any other industry; whether or not it’s difficult simply depends on you.

BLESSED ARE THE FILMMAKERS The most reward­ing experience isn’t being recognised by people, but a god speaking to you. In 1994, I was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. I was a new director and it was only my second film, but I was competing in an inter­national competition. From what I had heard, opinions on my movie (Vive L’Amour) were polarised. Some people strongly disliked it and some loved it, but everyone thought, “This is a new director so he won’t get an award.”