Christopher Doyle

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Christopher Doyle
Christopher Doyle in 2005
Born (1952-05-02) 2 May 1952 (age 71)
NationalityAustralian
Occupation(s)Cinematographer, actor, photographer, and film director
Years active1978–present (photographer);
1983–present (cinematographer)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese杜可風
Simplified Chinese杜可风

Christopher Doyle, also known as Dù Kěfēng (Mandarin) or Dou Ho-Fung (Cantonese)[1] (traditional Chinese: 杜可風; simplified Chinese: 杜可风) (born 2 May 1952) is an Australian-Hong Kong cinematographer. He has worked on over fifty Chinese-language films, being best known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-wai in Chungking Express, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love and 2046. Doyle is also known for other films such as Temptress Moon, Hero, Dumplings, and Psycho. He has won awards at the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival, as well as the AFI Award for cinematography, the Golden Horse award (four times), and the Hong Kong Film Award (six times).

Early life[edit]

Doyle was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1952. He left his native country on a Norwegian merchant ship at the age of eighteen. Doyle arrived in Taiwan for the first time in the 1970s, while his ship was docked in Keelung Harbor. Doyle met Stan Lai and Ding Nai-chu at Idea House, a restaurant in Taipei.[2]

Career[edit]

While living in other countries, he took on several odd jobs, such as being an oil driller in India, a cow herder in Israel, and a doctor of Chinese medicine in Thailand.[3] In the late seventies, Doyle took an interest in Chinese culture and received the Chinese name Dù Kěfēng, which translates to "like the wind".[4] After language studies in Taiwan, he started working as a photographer. A couple of years later, he became a cinematographer, working with director Edward Yang on the 1983 film That Day, on the Beach.[5]

Doyle has worked on over 50 Chinese-language films. He is best known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-wai in Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love and 2046. He has collaborated with other Chinese filmmakers on projects including Temptress Moon, Hero and Dumplings. He has also made more than 20 films in various other languages, working as director of photography on Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho, Liberty Heights, Last Life in the Universe, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Paranoid Park, and The Limits of Control, among others.

He also wrote, shot, and directed Warsaw Dark, Away with Words starring Asano Tadanobu, and Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled Preoccupied Preposterous, an experimental portrait of three generations of Hong Kong people.[6] He co-directed The White Girl with Jenny Suen.

Filmography[edit]

Cinematographer[edit]

Feature films[edit]

Year Title Director Notes
1983 That Day, on the Beach Edward Yang With Hui-Kung Chang
1984 A Fu de li wu Chi-Hua Li
Wei-Ming Lo
Peter Mak
Credited as "Ko-Feng Tu"
With Hui-Kung Chang and Chi-Ming Leung
1986 Lao niang gou sao Kei Shu
Noir et blanc Claire Devers With Daniel Desbois, Alain Lasfargues and Jean-Paul Rosa da Costa
1988 Burning Snow Patrick Tam
1989 My Heart Is That Eternal Rose With David Chung
Her Beautiful Life Lies Tony Au
1990 Days of Being Wild Wong Kar-wai
1992 The Peach Blossom Land Stan Lai
Mary from Beijing Sylvia Chang
1994 Chungking Express Wong Kar-wai With Andrew Lau
Ashes of Time With Pun-Leung Kwan
Fei xia a da Stan Lai
Red Rose White Rose Stanley Kwan
1995 The Peony Pavilion Chen Kuo-fu
Fallen Angels Wong Kar-wai
1996 Dai sam yuen Tsui Hark With Arthur Wong
Temptress Moon Chen Kaige
Si mian xia wa Kwok-Leung Gan
Eric Kot
Jan Lamb
1997 Happy Together Wong Kar-wai
Motel Seoninjang Ki-Yong Park
Choh chin luen hau dik yi yan sai gaai Eric Kot
1998 Psycho Gus Van Sant
1999 Away with Words Himself
Liberty Heights Barry Levinson
2000 In the Mood for Love Wong Kar-wai With Pun-Leung Kwan and Ping Bin Lee
2001 Made Jon Favreau
2002 Rabbit-Proof Fence Phillip Noyce
The Quiet American
Hero Zhang Yimou
2003 Last Life in the Universe Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Green Tea Zhang Yuan
2004 2046 Wong Kar-wai With Pun-Leung Kwan
Dumplings Fruit Chan
2005 The White Countess James Ivory
2006 Invisible Waves Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Lady in the Water M. Night Shyamalan
2007 Paranoid Park Gus Van Sant With Rain Li
2008 Downloading Nancy Johan Renck
2009 The Limits of Control Jim Jarmusch
Ondine Neil Jordan
2010 Ocean Heaven Xue Xiao-Lu
Yong xin tiao Stanley Kwan With Rain Li
Passion Play Mitch Glazer
2011 Underwater Love – A Pink Musical Shinji Imaoka
Love for Life Gu Changwei With Changwei Gu and Tao Yang
Tormented Takashi Shimizu
2013 Magic Magic Sebastian Silva With Glenn Kaplan
American Dreams in China Peter Chan
Bends Flora Lau
Lanse gotou Jian Cui
2014 Ruined Heart! Another Love Story
Between a Criminal and a Whore
Khavn
2015 Beijing, Niuyue Rain Li With Rain Li and Sion Michel
Port of Call Philip Yung
Fundamentally Happy Tan Bee Thiam
Lei Yuan Bin
Enishi: The Bride of Izumo Hiroshi Horiuchi
2016 Endless Poetry Alejandro Jodorowsky
Stockholm, My Love Mark Cousins With Mark Cousins
2017 You Mean The World To Me Saw Teong Hin
The White Girl Himself
Jenny Suen
With Kubbie Tsoi
2018 Love Only Charine Chan
2019 Aru sendo no hanashi Joe Odagiri
Tezuka's Barbara Macoto Tezuka With Kubbie Tsoi
2020 Love After Love Ann Hui
2021 Gei wo 1 tian Erica Li With Kubbie Tsoi

Short films[edit]

Year Title Director Notes
1996 wkw/tk/1996@7′55″hk.net Wong Kar-wai
1998 Motorola
2002 Goin Home Peter Chan Segment of Three
2004 The Hand Wong Kar-wai Segment of Eros
Dumplings Fruit Chan Segment of Three... Extremes
2006 The Madness of the Dance Carol Morley With Rain Li
2007 Meeting Helen Emily Woof
2012 Linda Linda Tsien-Tsien Zhang
2013 Eine gute Geschichte Martin-Christopher Bode
2014 The Boy and the Bus Simon Pitts
Sha chen bao Jason Wishnow
I Am Here David Holmes
2016 Wind Tiong Guan Saw Also producer
2018 To Heaven, to Gather Li-Yue Chang

Television[edit]

Year Title Director Notes
2018 Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown Asia Argento Episode "Hong Kong";
With Frederic Menou
2020 Ouverture of Something that Never Ended Alessandro Michele
Gus Van Sant
7 episodes

Documentary works[edit]

Film

Year Title Director
2015 I Am Belfast Mark Cousins
Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled Preoccupied Preposterous Himself
2017 Human Flow Ai Weiwei
2019 The Rest

Short film

Year Title Director Notes
2019 Cuba Peter H. Chan With Peter H. Chan and Justin Henning

Television

Year Title Director Notes
1996 Century of Cinema Stanley Kwan Segment Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema

Director[edit]

Year Title Director Writer Notes
1999 Away with Words Yes Yes
2006 Paris, je t'aime Yes Yes Segment "Porte de Choisy"
2008 Izolator aka "Warsaw Dark" Yes No
2014 Beautiful 2014 Yes No Segment "HK 2014 - Education for All"
2015 Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled Preoccupied Preposterous Yes No Documentary film
2017 The White Girl Yes Yes Co-directed with Jenny Suen
2018 Love Only Yes No Creative and visual director

Awards and nominations[edit]

Year Title Award/Nomination
1994 Ashes of Time Osella d'Oro for Best Cinematography[7]
2000 In the Mood for Love Grand Technical Prize at the Cannes Film Festival[8]
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematographer
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography
Nominated- Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography
2002 Hero New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematographer
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography
Nominated- National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography
2004 2046 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematographer
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography

On 26 May 2017, Doyle was honoured during the 70th Cannes Festival with the “Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography” award, in tribute to his successful and influential career.[9]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Angel Talk (1996) – Behind the scenes photo book covering Fallen AngelsISBN 978-4-7952-8069-4
  • Backlit by the Moon (1996) – Japanese photography monograph – ISBN 978-4-947648-39-6
  • Photographs of Tamaki Ogawa (1996) – Japanese photography monograph – ISBN 978-4-947599-45-2
  • Doyle on Doyle (1997) – Japanese photography monograph – ISBN 4-9900557-1-3
  • Buenos Aires (1997) – Behind the scenes photo book covering Happy TogetherISBN 978-4-7952-8066-3
  • Don't Cry for Me, Argentina (1997) – Photographic journal account of filming Happy TogetherISBN 962-8114-24-7
  • A Cloud in Trousers (1998) – Gallery exhibition monograph – ISBN 978-1-889195-33-9
  • There Is a Crack in Everything (2003) – Photography monograph
  • R34g38b25 (2004) – Behind the scenes photo book covering HeroISBN 978-962-86177-0-8
  • Talking White - Behind-the-scenes photobook covering The White Girl (co-written with Jenny Suen)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Opalyn Mok, "10 things about: Christopher Doyle, cinematographer extraordinaire" Archived 3 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Malay Mail, 7 December 2014.
  2. ^ Teng, Sue-feng (December 1995). "The hottest lens in the east--cinematographer Christopher Doyle". Taiwan Panorama. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Christopher Doyle". christopherdoylefilm.com.
  4. ^ Anderson, Ariston (11 November 2016). "Turin Film Fest to Fete Wong Kar Wai Innovator Christopher Doyle". The Hollywood Reporter.
  5. ^ Godfrey, Alex; Doyle, Christopher (24 April 2015). "Interview – Christopher Doyle: a legend in his own Y-fronts". The Guardian.
  6. ^ Wen, Philip (27 September 2015). "Australian filmmaker Christopher Doyle films Hong Kong's 'umbrella revolution'". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  7. ^ Christopher Doyle at Rossi Rossi.
  8. ^ "In the Mood for Love", Festival de Cannes, 2000.
  9. ^ Ali Naderzad, "CANNES FESTIVAL, Christopher Doyle gets Excellence in Cinematography award", Screen Comment, 25 May 2017.

External links[edit]