Born in Malaysia in 1957, he is one of the most sensual and emotional filmmakers of his generation, making his debut with the feature film Rebels of the Neon God (1992). His sophomore film, Vive L’amour (1994), won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival while The River (1996) won the Jury Award at Berlin, thus solidifying his status as a major filmmaker. All of his feature films so far have been selected by the top three film festivals of the world, and his major works include Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003), The Wayward Cloud (2005), I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006), and Days (2020).