Christopher Doyle Biography

Australian-Hongkonger cinematographer (born 1952)For other people named Chris Doyle, see Chris Doyle (disambiguation).

Christopher Doyle, also known as Dù Kěfēng (Mandarin) or Dou Ho-Fung (Cantonese) (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

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.

Career

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. In the late seventies, Doyle took an interest in Chinese culture and received the Chinese name Dù Kěfēng, which translates to "like the wind". 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.

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. He co-directed The White Girl with Jenny Suen.

Filmography

Cinematographer

Feature films

Short films

Television

Do*entary works

Film

Short film

Television

Director

Awards and nominations

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.

Bibliography

  • Angel Talk (1996) – Behind the scenes photo book covering Fallen Angels – ISBN:978-4-7952-8069-4
  • Backlit by the Moon (1996) – *anese photography monograph – ISBN:978-4-947648-39-6
  • Photographs of Tamaki Ogawa (1996) – *anese photography monograph – ISBN:978-4-947599-45-2
  • Doyle on Doyle (1997) – *anese photography monograph – ISBN:4-9900557-1-3
  • Buenos Aires (1997) – Behind the scenes photo book covering Happy Together – ISBN:978-4-7952-8066-3
  • 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:978-1-889195-33-9
  • There Is a Crack in Everything (2003) – Photography monograph
  • R34g38b25 (2004) – Behind the scenes photo book covering Hero – ISBN:978-962-86177-0-8
  • Talking White - Behind-the-scenes photobook covering The White Girl (co-written with Jenny Suen)

See also

  • Cinema of Hong Kong

References

    External links

    • Official website
    • Christopher Doyle at IMDb
    • Doyle, Christopher (6 August 2004). "The Legend of Drunken Master". Village Voice (Interview). Interviewed by Dennis Lim.
    • Doyle, Christopher (7 January 2005). "'If you call me, you know what you're in for'". The Guardian (Interview). Interviewed by Steve Rose.
    • Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, interview with Christopher Doyle in three parts by Andreas Pousette, February 2005.
    • Doyle, Christopher (17 July 2005). "'His eyes have seen the glory...'". The Guardian (Interview). Interviewed by Gaby Wood.
    • Video: Christopher Doyle talks about Hong Kong for CNN and Nokia’s feature series "The Scene".
    • Doyle, Christopher (21 March 2006). "Interview" (Interview). CNN.
    Christopher Doyle