Edward Yang, the Cannes-winning Taiwanese engineer-turned-director known for his realistic portrayals of modern Taiwan, has died from complications from colon cancer, a film industry consultant said Sunday. He was 59.Yang, an American citizen, passed away at his home in Beverly Hills on Friday, film consultant Norman Wang told The Associated Press. Wang said Yang's family asked him to release the information to the press.
Yang had been battling colon cancer for seven years but kept his illness private, Wang said.
The director is survived by his wife, concert pianist Kaili Peng, his 6-year-old son Sean, a younger sister and a brother, he said. Wang said funeral arrangements haven't been finalized.
Born in Shanghai in 1947, his family moved from mainland China to Taiwan amid civil war waged by the communists, following the retreat by the ruling Nationalists, according to his biography in the book "Speaking in Images: Interviews with Contemporary Chinese Filmmakers."
The multitalented Yang took a convoluted path to filmmaking.
Pursuing what was considered a prestigious career in Taiwan, he studied engineering on the island, obtained a master's degree at the University of Florida and worked as a computer engineer before realizing his calling.
"On my 30th birthday, I suddenly said to myself, 'Damn, I'm getting old!' I realized that I had to change my life, I needed to start doing something that I could enjoy and through which I could feel fulfilled," he said in an interview published in the book "Speaking in Images."
Yang didn't switch to filmmaking right away, however. He studied briefly at the University of Southern California and was turned off by its teaching methodology.
Yang then applied and was accepted into Harvard's architecture graduate school, but decided to give film another shot.
The late director favored stories set in the Taiwanese capital Taipei. Among his works are "A Brighter Summer Day," a 1991 film set in 1950s Taipei about Elvis-worshipping teenage boys who get involved with gangsters."Taipei Story" (1985) revolved around a young couple and "A Confucian Confusion" (1994) follows the lives of Taipei yuppies and artists.
Yang won the Cannes best director award in 2000 for "Yi Yi," a film about a Taiwanese family that copes with the serious illness of their elderly mother.
"A Brighter Summer Day" is viewed as a major incubator of Taiwanese movie talent and an important documentation of the island's history under authoritarian Nationalist rule. One character is shown being questioned by Taiwanese police in the middle of the night, common treatment at the time for locals suspected of communist sympathies.
About 75 percent of the actors and workers involved in "A Brighter Summer Day" were first-time movie professionals, according to the book "New New Wave of Taiwan Cinema."
Among the newcomers was Taiwanese actor Chang Chen, who went on to star in the Ang Lee kung fu hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
Chang eulogized Yang Sunday.
"He was my inspirational teacher in performance, and one of the directors I respect the most," Chang was quoted as saying by the Chinese news Web site Sina.com.
In his final years, Yang, whose Cannes Web site biography says was an accomplished comic artist by age 12, worked on a new animation company.
He said in an interview with Sina.com at Cannes in 2005 he was working on an animated movie whose main character is based on action star Jackie Chan.
Calls to a spokesman for Chan weren't immediately answered.
