About

行在水上 (Walking on Water) 2013

Walking on Water, the fifth film in the ‘Walker’ series, was prompted by an invitation by the Malaysian filmmaker Tan Chui Mui to contribute to the anthology film Letters from the South 2013, reflecting on the Chinese diaspora. For this project, the pilgrimage to India by Xuanzang, the 7th Century Chinese Buddhist monk who inspired the ‘Walker’ series, is brought into conversation with Tsai Ming-liang’s own identity as a Malaysian with Chinese heritage.

Returning to his childhood home in Kuching, where he was raised by his grandparents in an apartment block known as “7-storeys”, Tsai films Lee Kang-sheng moving hypnotically slowly around the building complex. A series of lingering camera shots document the current residents, including a woman, now a grandmother, who cared for Tsai when he was a child.

29 minutes | All Ages

西遊 (Journey to the West) 2014

In fourteen exquisitely framed shots, Journey to the West follows Lee Kang-sheng, in his anachronistic monk persona, moving around the city and coastline of Marseilles. In this, the sixth film in the ‘Walker’ series, Lee is joined by French actor Denis Levant, known for his acrobatic physicality on screen. These two figures form a choreographed dialogue around stillness and movement, yet never directly interact. With a title that references the iconic 16th century Chinese novel loosely based on the monk Xuanzang’s odyssey to India in search of Buddhist teachings, Journey to the West was commissioned by the Marseille International Film Festival, and was shaped by Tsai’s own experience as an outsider exploring a new city for the first time.

56 minutes | All Ages