The Assassin

THE ASSASSIN is legendary filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien’s (THREE TIMES, THE PUPPETMASTER, A CITY OF SADNESS) latest masterwork, a highly anticipated follow-up to 2007’s THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON. A visually arresting take on traditional wuxia films lensed by frequent collaborator Mark Lee Ping Bing (FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, RENOIR) and in Hou’s meticulously composed signature style, the film premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where Hou was awarded the Best Director prize.

In ninth century China, Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi) is a young woman who, as a child, was abducted from a decorated general and then raised by a nun who trained her in the martial arts. After 13 years of exile, she is now a formidable assassin returning to her home province of Weibo with orders to kill Tian Ji'an (Chang Cheen), Weibo’s governor, to whom she was once betrothed. She must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings: will she chose to sacrifice the man she loved or will she break forever with the sacred way of the righteous assassins? Rich with shimmering, breathing texture and punctuated by brief but unforgettable bursts of action, THE ASSASSIN is a martial arts film like none made before it.

THE ASSASSIN will also screen at the 2015 Toronto and New York film festivals.

"The best film of the Cannes Film Festival. A masterful film. The level of artistry was so much higher than anything else in the festival that everyone was, in one way or another, ravished." –John Powers, Fresh Air, National Public Radio

"A staggeringly lovely period film...Filled with palace intrigue, expressive silences, flowing curtains, whispering trees and some of the most ravishingly beautiful images to have graced this festival [Cannes].” –Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

OFFICIAL OSCAR® ENTRY FROM TAIWAN –
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM ** 2015 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL – WINNER – BEST DIRECTOR**
**2015 TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL – Official Selection**
**2015 NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL – Official Selection**