Christopher Doyle

Christopher Doyle (simplified Chinese: 杜可风; traditional Chinese: 杜可風; pinyin: Dù Kěfēng; born 2 May 1952) is an award-winning cinematographer. He has won the AFI Award for cinematography, the Cannes Technical Grand Prize, Golden Osella, the Golden Horse awards (four times), and Hong Kong Film Award (six times). Doyle is an affiliate of the Hong Kong Society of Cinematographers.

Biography

Doyle was born in Sydney, Australia in 1952. In the late 1970s, he went to Taiwan from Hong Kong and then settled in Taipei. While living in Taipei, he studied Mandarin Chinese at the Taipei Language Institute. He worked as an oil driller in India, a cow herder in Israel, and a doctor of Chinese medicine in Thailand. In 1978, he worked as a photographer for the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and Zuni Icosahedron. In 1983, he was a cinematographer for That Day, On the Beach, the feature debut of director Edward Yang. For that film, Doyle won the Best Cinematography Award in the 1983 Asia-Pacific Film Festival.

He has worked with major Chinese directors such as Zhang Yimou, Zhang Yuan and, most notably, Wong Kar-wai, for whom he contributed, wholly or partially, to the cinematography of all his movies from Days of Being Wild through to 2046.

He himself has directed a feature film, Away with Words (aka Kujaku, aka San tiao ren) set in Hong Kong and Okinawa, starring Tadanobu Asano and Mavis Hee, as well as a segment “Porte de Choisy” in the feature film Paris, je t’aime. Doyle is also a photographer.

While his Australian accent is still discernible when he speaks English, he does so with unusual intonations and stops, the result of speaking Cantonese and Mandarin, in which he is fluent, for most of his adult life. He also speaks fluent French. He lives in Hong Kong and his Chinese name is Du Ke Fung which means ‘like the wind.’

His music video credits include Six Days for DJ Shadow (directed by Wong Kar-wai), The Strokes’ Juicebox (directed by Michael Palmieri), Getaway by the Scottish group Texas (directed by Tim Royes) and Sigur Rós’ Gobbledigook (directed by Stefán Árni Þorgeirsson and Sigurður Kjartansson).

Filmography as cinematographer

Feature films

• That Day, on the Beach (1983) — directed by Edward Yang
• Soul (1986) — directed by Kei Shu
• Noir et blanc (1986) — directed by Claire Devers
• My Heart Is That Eternal Rose (1987) — directed by Patrick Tam
• Her Beautiful Life Lies (1989) — directed by Tony Au
• Days of Being Wild (1991) — directed by Wong Kar-wai
• The Peach Blossom Land (1992) — directed by Stan Lai
• Mary from Beijing aka “Awakening” (1992) — directed by Sylvia Chang
• Red Rose White Rose (1994) — directed by Stanley Kwan
• Ashes of Time (1994) — directed by Wong Kar-wai, awarded the Osella d’Oro for Best Cinematography at the Venice International Film Festival
• The Red Lotus Society (1994) — directed by Stan Lai
• Chungking Express (1995) — directed by Wong Kar-wai
• The Peony Pavilion (1995) — directed by Chen Kuo-fu
• Fallen Angels (1995) — directed by Wong Kar-wai
• 4 Faces of Eve (1996) — directed by Kwok-Leung Gan, Eric Kot and Jan Lamb
• Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema (1996) — directed by Stanley Kwan
• Temptress Moon (1996) — directed by Chen Kaige
• First Love: The Litter on the Breeze (1997) — directed by Eric Kot
• Motel Cactus (1997) — directed by Ki-Yong Park
• Happy Together (1997) — directed by Wong Kar-wai
• Psycho (1998) — remake, directed by Gus Van Sant
• Liberty Heights (1999) — directed by Barry Levinson
• Away with Words (1999)
• In the Mood for Love (2000) — directed by Wong Kar-wai, awarded the Grand Technical Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as Best Cinematography Awards by the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics
• Made (2001) — directed by Jon Favreau
• Hero (2002) — directed by Zhang Yimou, awarded Best Cinematography Awards by the New York and Chicago Film Critics Circles and the National Society of Film Critics and at the Hong Kong Film Awards
• The Quiet American (2002) — directed by Phillip Noyce
• Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) — directed by Phillip Noyce
• Green Tea (2003) — directed by Zhang Yuan
• Last Life in the Universe (2003) — directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
• 2046 (2004) — directed by Wong Kar-wai, awarded Best Cinematography Awards by the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics
• Perhaps Love (2005) — directed by Peter Chan
• The White Countess (2005) — directed by James Ivory
• McDull, the Alumni (2006) — directed by Samson Chiu
• Dumplings (2006) — directed by Fruit Chan
• Invisible Waves (2006) — directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
• Lady in the Water (2006) — directed by M. Night Shyamalan
• Paranoid Park (2007) — directed by Gus Van Sant
• Downloading Nancy (2008) — directed by Johan Renck
• The Limits of Control (2009) — directed by Jim Jarmusch
• Ondine (2009) — directed by Neil Jordan
• Ocean Heaven (2010) — directed by Xue Xiao-Lu

Short films

• wkw/tk/1996@7′55″hk.net (1996) — directed by Wong Kar-wai
• Six Days (2002) — directed by Wong Kar-wai
• Three (2002) — segment “Going Home,” directed by Peter Chan
• Eros (2004) — segment “The Hand,” directed by Wong Kar-wai
• Three… Extremes (2004) — segment “Dumplings,” directed by Fruit Chan
• The Madness of the Dance (2006) — directed by Carol Morley
• Meeting Helen (2007) — directed by Emily Woof

Filmography as director

Feature films

• Away with Words (1999)
• Izolator aka “Warsaw Dark” (2008) — cinematography by Rain Li

Short films

• Paris, je t’aime (2006) — segment “Porte de Choisy,” cinematography by Rain Li

Bibliography

• Angel Talk (1996) — Behind the scenes photo book covering Fallen Angels — ISBN 978-4795280694
• Backlit by the Moon (1996) — Japanese photography monograph — ISBN 978-4947648396
• Photographs of Tamaki Ogawa (1996) — Japanese photography monograph — ISBN 978-4947599452
• Doyle on Doyle (1997) — Japanese photography monograph — ISBN 4-9900557-1-3
• Buenos Aires (1997) — Behind the scenes photo book covering Happy Together — ISBN 978-4795280663
• Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina (1997) — Photographic journal account of filming Happy Together — ISBN 962-8114-24-7
• A Cloud in Trousers (1998) — Gallery exhibition monograph — ISBN 978-1889195339
• There Is a Crack in Everything (2003) — Photography monograph
• R34g38b25 (2004) — Behind the scenes photo book covering Hero — ISBN 978-9628617708

See also

• Cinema of Hong Kong

External links

• Christopher Doyle at IMDb.
• “The Legend of Drunken Master,” Dennis Lim of The Village Voice interviews Christopher Doyle, 6 August 2004.
• ‘If you call me, you know what you’re in for,’ The Guardian’s Steve Rose interviews Christopher Doyle, 7 January 2005.
• Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, interview with Christopher Doyle in three parts by Andreas Pousette, February 2005.
• ‘His eyes have seen the glory…,’ The Guardian’s Gaby Wood interviews Christopher Doyle, 17 July 2005.
• Video: Christopher Doyle talks about Hong Kong for CNN and Nokia’s feature series “The Scene.”
• Text of CNN interview with Christopher Doyle.