Thomas Lin Shu-yu (; born 1976) is a Taiwanese director and screenwriter. After the critical success of his first two features, ''

Winds of September ''Winds of September'' () is a 2008 Taiwanese film. Set in 1996 in Hsinchu, it focuses on a gang of teenage boys who drink, smoke and gamble, and the relationships between them. It broke a number of taboos in Taiwanese filmmaking, including showin ...

'' (2008), for which he won Best Original Screenplay at the

45th Golden Horse Awards The 45th Golden Horse Awards (Mandarin:第45屆金馬獎) took place on December 6, 2008 at Zhongshan Hall in Taichung, Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and So ...

, and ''Starry Starry Night'' (2011), he has been considered a leading filmmaker of his generation. His films often deal with autobiographical elements.

Early life

Lin attended elementary school in Twin Cities, Minnesota, where his father was conducting his doctorate research in

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...

. He returned to Hsinchu, Taiwan, his junior year to attend

National Experimental High School National Experimental High School At Hsinchu Science Park (NEHS; ), situated near the Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan, is a public, coeducational school (pre-primary-12). Founded in August 1983, the school was proposed by the founder of the Science ...

, an experimental bilingual high school, despite not knowing any Mandarin. Lin graduated from the Department of Radio, Television and Film at Shih Hsin University in 1998. Lin later attended the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he studied under Thom Andersen. He graduated with his MFA from CalArts in 2002. His thesis film ''Parachute Kids'' is about a recent Taiwan to America transplant and his girlfriend, who is moving to Taiwan with her parents. Originally a documentary about undocumented youths, Lin pivoted into narrative after his would-be subjects revealed too much illegal activity. The film was screened at the 21st Vancouver International Film Festival.

Career

After graduation, Lin returned to Taiwan, where he worked as an

assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

for filmmakers like Tsai Ming-liang,

Cheng Wen-tang Cheng Wen-tang (; born 1958) is a Taiwanese director and producer. He got his start creating documentaries on social movements in 1980s Taiwan. He began creating narrative films in the 1990s and has gone on to collaborate with his daughter, singe ...

, and

Zero Chou Zero Chou (; born 24 July 1969) is a Taiwanese director and screenwriter. Life and career Chou was born in Keelung, Taiwan in 1969. She earned a B.A. in Philosophy from National Chengchi University in 1992. She worked as a journalist before beco ...

. His short ''The Pain of Others'' was nominated for a Golden Horse Award in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. Lin made his feature film directorial debut with ''

'' (2008). It's centered around nine high school students' lives in Lin's hometown of Hsinchu, Taiwan. He began writing the script in 2004 with characters loosely inspired by his high school friends. Eric Tsang came on as a producer after his daughter, Taiwanese singer Bowie Tsang, recommended him the script after having seen Lin's film ''The Pain of Others.'' Lin and co-writer

Tsai Tsung-han Cài () is a Chinese-language surname that derives from the name of the ancient Cai state. In 2019 it was the 38th most common surname in China, but the 9th most common in Taiwan (as of 2018), where it is usually romanized as "Tsai" (based on ...

won Best Original Screenplay at the

. His third feature film ''

Zinnia Flower ''Zinnia Flower'' () is a 2015 Taiwanese film starring Karena Lam, Stone, Ko Chia-yen, Umin Boya, Bryan Chang, Nana Lee and Gen Yan Tsai. The film was released on October 8, 2015. It was chosen as the closing film of the Taipei Film Festival in ...

'' (2015) is about two mourners bonding 100 days after their partners' deaths. Lin began writing the screenplay for the film 107 days after his wife died in July 2012. The film premiered at the Taipei Film Festival in July 2015 before opening in Taiwanese cinemas in early October. It was nominated for three awards at the

52nd Golden Horse Awards The 52nd Golden Horse Awards (Mandarin：第52屆金馬獎) honored the best Chinese-language films and filmmakers of 2014–15 and took place on 21 November 2015 at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. The ceremony presented 23 categor ...

, including Best Original Screenplay. His fourth feature film ''The Garden of Evening Mists'' (2019) is an adaptation of the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

-shortlisted novel of the same name. It is a wartime romance set during and after the Japanese occupation of Malaya about a former Japanese

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

who travels to the Cameron Highlands to build a garden for her dead sister. This was Lin's first foreign production. The film was nominated in nine categories at the

56th Golden Horse Awards 56th Golden Horse Awards () took place on November 23, 2019 at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. Organized by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee, the awards honored the best in Chinese-language films of 2018 ...

, including Lin's first nomination for Best Director. His next film ''Life's a Struggle'' "宋岳庭传" is a musical biography about Taiwanese rapper Shawn "M80" Sung.

Style and influence

Many of his films feature elements from Lin's life. Lin cites Taiwanese New Wave Cinema directors Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien as major influences, in regards to "their spirit and ideology, rather than technique and visual styles." Specifically, Yang's '' A Brighter Summer Day'' was impactful on Lin as a teenager, who was the same age as the film's protagonist. Both directors had made a film about their teenage lives and Lin wanted to do the same with his first film, ''Winds of September'' (2008). Lin cites

mangaka A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist bef ...

Mitsuru Adachi use of empty locations within a manga frame as an influence on ''Winds of September's use of cross-cutting during the graduation scene. The cross-cutting between empty shots of the school was also economical as they could re-use footage they had shot to test the film.

Personal life

His wife died in July 2012. His father is a professor at the National Tsing Hua University.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Tom Lin Shu-Yu
at Taiwan's Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development website {{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Tom, Shu-yu Living people Taiwanese film directors Taiwanese screenwriters California Institute of the Arts alumni 1976 births Shih Hsin University alumni