Art house film director famous for his innovative use of photography, editing, music. Wong started his career working as a production assistant for television and as a scriptwriter. He debuted as a director in 1988 with As Tears Go By. He won the Best Director Award at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for his film Happy Together.  Other films include Ashes of Time, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels. His most recent movie In the Mood for Love won the Best Foreign Film prize at the European Academy Film Awards.

For more info, see Wong Kar Wai, by Jean-Marc Lalanne and others.

Action-film director. Woo directed a number of action and comedy films in Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1980, he directed A Better Tomorrow, a directorial and commercial breakthrough starring Chow Yun-Fat that inaugurated the balletic action style that he would be best known for. He followed that success with A Better Tomorrow, Part2,The Killer, Bullet in the Head, and Hard Boiled. His American film debut came in 1993, when he directed Hard Target. He would follow with Broken Arrow, Face/Off, Mission Impossible 2, Windtalkers. His latest movies are The Red Circle and Bulletproof Monk.

For more info, see John Woo: The Films, by Kenneth Hall.

Movie director and leading member of China's "fifth generation" filmmakers. Zhang's education as a film maker got a late start due to his family's previous connection with the Kuomintang and the Cultural Revolution. He was already 27 and was initially rejected at China's only film school due to his age. His first film, Red Sorghum, was an international success. The movie starred Gong Li, whom Zhang had discovered. She would star in all of his movies for the next decade.  These included Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, The Story of Qiu Ju, To Live, and Shanghai Triad. While all of these movies would receive international acclaim, almost half would be banned for some time in China.  He staged and directed a performance of Turandot with the music being conducted by Zubin Mehta. His most recent movies include The Road Home,  Happy Times, and Not One Less.

For more info, see Zhang Yimou: Interviews, by Frances Gateward.