Wang Tong or Wang Toon (born Wáng Zhōnghé, April 14, 1942) is a Taiwanese director who started his career as an art director and production designer and later became a film director and educator.

He started working in the Central Motion Picture Corporation (中影股份有限公司) in the department for art and costume design in 1966.  He won the 13th Golden Horse Award for best art direction in 1976 for Forever My Love, directed by Pai Chingjui (白景瑞).

He demonstrated his talent as a film director with his first feature, If I Were for Real (假如我是真的), which won him four awards, including Best Narrative Film, Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay in the 18th Golden Horse Award in 1981.[1]

Between 1981 and  2015 he directed 13 feature films, 2 animation feature films, and 1 documentary.[2] His achievement and contribution to Taiwan cinema for almost 60 years was recognized by the 56th Golden Horse Lifetime Achievement Award presented to him in 2019.[3]

Wang Tong was also devoted to education. He took a teaching position in the Department of Filmmaking at the Taipei National University of the Arts in 2007 and served as the Chair from 2010 to 2013 and 2017 to 2019. He retired from the university in 2019 and was awarded the Art Education Contribution Award (藝術教育貢獻獎) by the Ministry of Education (教育部) in 2022.[4]

Life and career

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Wang Tong was born in Anhui, China in 1942 and moved to Taiwan with his family in 1949 because of the Chinese Civil War. He studied at the National Taiwan College of Arts (國立藝術專科學校) from 1962 to 1965, under the guidance of teachers such as Long Sihliang (龍思良), Gao Yifeng (高一峰) and Wu Yaozong (吳耀宗). When he was young, Wang was nourished by inspiring journals, such as Juchang (劇場; Theatre Magazine) and Wenxue jikan (文學季刊; Literature Magazine), and his association with contemporary poets and painters, including Chen Yingzhen (陳映真) and Wei Tiancong (尉天聰), and Huang Chunming (黃春明) at Cafe Astoria (明星咖啡館). It was there that Wang Tong read the manuscript of the novel Days of Watching the Sea (看海的日子) by Huang Chunming, which he later adapted into a popular feature film A Flower in The Raining Night (看海的日子).[5]

Wang Tong got a chance to join the production team of Songfest (山歌姻緣) as art assistant when Director Yuan Qiufeng (袁秋楓) came to Taiwan to his this feature film in 1963. Realizing that he was good at art design and his work could bring him higher  income than his classmates who worked as art teacher, Wang decided to join the film industry for his career.[5]

Wang entered Central Motion Picture Corporation in 1966 and was placed under Johnson Tsao Chuang-Sheng (曹莊生), from whom he learned to improve his aesthetic skills and the details about film production, such as architecture, space, makeup, costumes, and color. He had worked for many major directors at that time, including Lee Hsing (李行), Ting Shanhsi (丁善璽), Pai Chingjui, Sung Tsunshou (宋存壽) and Richard Chen Yaochi (陳耀圻) as the art director of their films. An avid learner, he also grabbed whatever opportunities he could have to learn from other directors he admired, such as Li Hanhsiang (李翰祥) and King Hu (胡金銓) to polish his production skills.[5]

Wang Tong made his debut feature film, If I Were for Real in 1981 while continuing to work as an art director for his own films and for other directors. In 1983, he directed A Flower in the Rainy Night, which was adapted from Huang Chunming's novel, Days of Watching the Sea. The film was a box office success and won two 18th Golden Horse awards: Lu Hsiaofen (陸小芬), who was known for her roles as sexy revenging woman, for the Best Leading Actress and Ying Ying (英英) for best supporting actress.

Wang’s next film Run Away (策馬入林; 1984) is praised for its realistic style, which makes it very different from previous martial art films in the 1960s and 1970s. His Spring Daddy (陽春老爸; 1985) is a film about a family composed of mainland veteran father and Taiwanese mother, a social phenomenon depicted in many films of the 1980s.

Wang subsequently made three films about Taiwan’s history from the colonial time of the 1920s to the civil war between the nationalist and communist parties in the mid 20th century: Straw Man (稻草人; 1987), Banana Paradise (香蕉天堂; 1989), and Hill of No Return (無言的山丘; 1992). These films, all realistic depictions of the life experiences of local Taiwanese and mainland immigrants, are also known as Wang’s Taiwan trilogy. Red Persimmon (紅柿子; 1995) is an autobiographical film based on his childhood memories. Wang’s 12th feature A Way We Go (自由門神; 2002) is a contemporary dark comedy about three socially marginalized young men finding no way to go in globalized urban Taipei. After 13 years, Wang’s last film Where the Wind Settles (風中家族; 2015) picks up the same topic of Chinese Civil War to tell the story of a group of mainland refugees forming a new family in Taipei after 1949.

Wang Tong was actively involved in the production of animation films. In 2002, he joined Wang Film Productions Co. Ltd. (宏廣股份有限公司), founded by his elder brother Wang Zhong-yuan (王中元). He made The Fire Ball, (紅孩兒:決戰火燄山; 2005), an adaptation of Chinese novel Journey to the West. The film won the Best Animated Feature in the 42nd Golden Horse Award and the Best Animated Feature in the 50th Asia Pacific Film Festival. The other film A Story about Grandpa Lin Wang unfortunately failed to come to fruition.

Wang was promoted to be the director of Central Motion Picture Corporation Studio (中影製片廠) in 1997. Under his helm the company established the first and exclusive high-tech post-production studio in Taiwan's film industry, with synchronous recording cameras, lighting equipment, and computer editing capacity. Wang also established Taiwan's first dolby recording studio, Central Motion Pictures Corporation Dolby Recording (中影杜比錄音室). At the same time, he also worked as the chairman of the Taipei Film Festival from 1997 to 2002. Turning to 2003, when he served as the CEO of the executive committee of the Golden Horse Awards (臺北金馬影展執行委員會), he has established the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion (金馬創投) which brings regional and international industry professionals to Taiwan with the purpose of developing international joint ventures and cross-productions.[4]

Wang Tong was also devoted to education. He took a teaching position in the Department of Filmmaking at the Taipei National University of the Arts in 2007 and served as the Chair from 2010 to 2013 and 2017 to 2019. He retired from the university in 2019 and was awarded the Art Education Contribution Award (藝術教育貢獻獎) by the Ministry of Education (教育部) in 2022.[4]

Filmography

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Source[2]

Feature film
Year Chinese title English title
1981 假如我是真的 If I Were for Real
1981 窗口的月亮不准看 Don't Look at The Moon Through The Window
1982 百分滿點 One Hundred Point
1982 苦戀 Portrait of A Fanatic
1983 看海的日子 A Flower in The Raining Night
1984 策馬入林 Run Away
1985 陽春老爸 Spring Daddy
1987 稻草人 Straw Man
1989 香蕉天堂 Banana Paradise
1992 無言的山丘 Hill of No Return
1995 紅柿子 Red Persimmon
2002 自由門神 A Way We Go
2015 風中家族 Where the Wind Settles
Documentary
Year Chinese title English title
2007 童心寶貝 Tongxin Baobei
Animated feature film
Year Chinese title English title
2005 紅孩兒:決戰火燄山 The Fire Ball
Screen play
Year Chinese title English title
1995 紅柿子 Red Persimmon
Art director
Year Chinese title English title Notes
1976 楓葉情 Forever My Love
1976 追球追求 The Chasing Game
1976 翠湖寒 The Spring Lake
1977 煙水寒 The Glory of The Sunset
1977 微笑 The Smiling Face Corporate with Chi-Ping Chang
1977 愛的賊船 A Pirate of Love
1978 煙波江上 Love On A Foggy River
1978 男孩與女孩的戰爭 The War of the Sexes
1979 昨日雨瀟瀟 The Misty Rain of Yesterday's
1979 師妹出關 The Woman Avenger
1979 結婚三級跳 Jiehun Sanjitiao
1979 悲之秋 A Sorrowful Wedding
1979 衝刺 Chongci
1979 醉拳女刁手 No One Can Touch Her
1979 忘憂草 A Girl Without Sorrow
1980 一根火柴 Yigen Huochai
1980 一對傻鳥 Poor Chasers
1980 十九新娘七歲郎 Shijiu Xinniang Qisuilang
1980 雁兒歸 Flying Home
1980 我踏浪而來 Lover On The Wave
1980 愛情躲避球 Twin Troubles
1981 怒犯天條 Offend the Law of God
1981 假如我是真的 If I Were for Real
1981 窗口的月亮不准看 Don't Look at The Moon Through The Window
1983 看海的日子 A Flower in The Raining Night
1983 天下第一 All The King's Men
1984 策馬入林 Run Away Corporate with Chin-Tien Ku and Shung-Man Lam
1989 香蕉天堂 Banana Paradise Corporate with Chin-Tien Ku and Bo-Lam Lee
1991 密宗威龍 The Tantana
1993 異域2孤軍 End of The Road
Producer
Year Chinese title English title
1995 熱帶魚 Tropical Fish
2002 藍色大門 Blue Gate Crossing

Awards and honors

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Source[6]

Year Name Award Category Outcome
1976 Forever My Love 13rd Golden Horse Award Best art direction Won
1978 The Glory of the Sunset 15th Golden Horse Award Best art direction Nominated
1981 If I Were for Real 18th Golden Horse Award Best art direction Nominated
1983 All the King's Men 20th Golden Horse Award Best costume design Won
Best art direction Nominated
1985 Run Away 22nd Golden Horse Award Best makeup & costume design Won
Best art direction Won
1987 Strawman 24th Golden Horse Award Best director Won
1989 Banana Paradise 26th Golden Horse Award Best makeup & costume design Nominated
1992 Hill of No Return 29th Golden Horse Award Best director Won
1996 Red Persimmon 33rd Golden Horse Award Best director Nominated
2007 11st National Award for Arts[7] Won
2019 56th Golden Horse Award Lifetime achievement award Won
2023 9th Art Education Contribution Award[4] Won

References

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  1. ^ "台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival". www.goldenhorse.org.tw (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  2. ^ a b "TFAI-國家電影及視聽文化中心 Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute". fmdb.tfai.org.tw. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  3. ^ "台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival". www.goldenhorse.org.tw (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  4. ^ a b c d "藝術教育貢獻獎 - 獲獎資料". web.arte.gov.tw. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  5. ^ a b c 藍, 祖蔚 (2010). 王童七日談:導演與影評人的對談手記 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 台灣: 典藏藝術家庭. ISBN 9789866833847.
  6. ^ "王童". 台灣電影網. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  7. ^ "第十一屆獲獎藝術家 王童". 國家文藝獎 獲獎藝術家. Retrieved 2023-04-20.