Kuo-Fu Chen

Kuo-Fu Chen

Birth : 1958-05-13, Taichung, Taiwan

History

Chen Kuo-Fu is a Taiwanese film director, screenwriter and producer. His film The Personals was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Born in 1958 Chen worked as a film critic before debuting as a director in 1989 with School Girl. In the 1990s, he continued to explore the world through a female perspective with Treasure Island, The Peony Pavilion and anti-romantic comedy The Personals. The latter, in which a single woman searches for Mr. Right on a series of blind dates, screened in Cannes' Un Certain Regard sidebar and was distributed in Asia, Europe and North America. In 2000 Chen became the head of the production unit of the Asian branch of Columbia Pictures. Here he accumulated experience in international film making and connections to young Chinese directors such as Feng Xiaogang. With these he would later join Huayi Brothers Media Corporation and continue his works in China. In 2001 Chen began to concentrate on feature film production beginning with Su Chao-Bin's youth comedy Better Than Sex through his company Nan Fang Film Productions. The following year, he directed and produced the supernatural thriller Double Vision.

Profile

Kuo-Fu Chen

Movies

Love Will Tear Us Apart
Producer
Lu and Ling, two high-school sweethearts who pledged to get married to each other in their youth. Over the next 10 years, their relationship is tried and tested by a number of obstacles that stand in their way.
Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings
Producer
Dee, the detective serving Chinese empress Wu Zetian, is called upon to investigate a series of strange events in Loyang, including the appearance of mysterious warriors wearing Chiyou ghost masks, foxes that speak human language and the pillar sculptures in the palace coming alive.
Hanson and the Beast
Producer
Yuan Shuai, a debt-ridden animal-breeder, tries to get out of his financial predicament by finding a wealthy girlfriend through matchmaking dates. He unexpectedly meets and fall in love with the fox demon, Bai Xianchu, who has arrived to the mortal realm to repay her gratitude. However, the head of the Demon tribe Yun Zhonghe forbids a love relationship between a demon and a human; and takes Bai Xianchu away. To seek his lover, Yuan Shuai bravely crashes the demonic world.
Chongqing Hot Pot
Producer
When three friends open a hot pot restaurant in a former bomb shelter, they discover it’s linked by a single wall to the bank vault next door. While deciding to take the easy money or go to the police, they find out one of the bank’s employees is a former classmate and look to enlist her in deciding their future.
Mojin: The Lost Legend
Producer
At the beginning of the 1990s, famous tomb explorer Hu Bayi decided to retire and move to the United States with his girlfriend Shirley. But before his wedding, Bayi discovers his first love Ding Shitian, who supposedly had died in the "One Hundred Cave" 20 years ago, is actually still alive. Together with Shirley and his old exploration partner, Bayi unravels a terrible millennium-old secret...
The Ark Of Mr. Chow
Producer
A group of bright teenagers are recruited for a special college program for young geniuses only to find themselves socially awkward among their more normal peers.
Aberdeen
Producer
The extended Cheng family, which, like Aberdeen harbor’s Chinese namesake, represents today’s Little Hong Kong and its myriad of contradictions between traditions and modernity; superstitions and materialism; family and individuality.
Who Is Undercover
Producer
In 1946, to prevent the Chinese civil war, Zhou Enlai who represented the Communists held a talk with the Chinese Nationalist Party, and George C. Marshall, who represented the Americans at Plum Village in Nanjing. A lost notebook stirred the already turbulent peace talk. The ripples alert the three sides and a battle of spy and anti-spy began. Many historical figures like Zhou Enlai, George Marshall, Chiang Kai-shek, Soong May-ling, He Yingqing, Chen Cheng, and Hu Zongnan are depicted in the movie. Other fictional persona such as the ace agent Xiong Huiquan, the female journalist, and a secret spy who belongs to the Confidential Bureau adds tension to the critical moment.
Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon
Producer
The action-packed and captivating tale of Dee Renjie's beginnings in the Imperial police force. His very first case, investigating reports of a sea monster terrorizing the town, reveals a sinister conspiracy of treachery and betrayal, leading to the highest reaches of the Imperial family.
Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon
Writer
The action-packed and captivating tale of Dee Renjie's beginnings in the Imperial police force. His very first case, investigating reports of a sea monster terrorizing the town, reveals a sinister conspiracy of treachery and betrayal, leading to the highest reaches of the Imperial family.
Back to 1942
Executive Producer
In 1942, Henan Province was devastated by the most tragic famine in modern Chinese history, resulting in the deaths of at least three million men, women and children. Although the primary cause of the famine was a severe drought, it was exacerbated by locusts, windstorms, earthquakes, epidemic disease and the corruption of the ruling Kuomintang government.
Tai Chi Hero
Writer
Chinese steampunk martial arts blockbuster about the early years of Tai chi master Yang Luchan, the man who founded in the 19th century what has now become the most popular Tai Chi style in the world. The second instalment of the "Tai Chi" trilogy continues the journey of Yang Luchan, a gifted child with a fleshy growth on his forehead who helped save a village from a frightening army of steampunk soldiers bearing strange machines with the knowledge of Tai Chi that they entrusted him with.
Tai Chi Zero
Writer
In legendary Chen Village, everyone is a martial arts master, using their powerful Chen Style Tai Chi in all aspects of their lives. Lu Chan has arrived to train, but the villagers are forbidden to teach Chen Style to outsiders, and do their best to discourage him by challenging him to a series of fights. Everyone, from strong men to young children, defeats him using their Tai Chi moves. But when a man from the village's past returns with a frightening steampowered machine and plans to build a railroad through the village at any costs, the villagers realize they may have no choice but to put their faith in Lu Chan... who has a secret power of his own.
Painted Skin: The Resurrection
Producer
According to demon lore, it takes hundreds of years to attain human form. Even then, lacking a human heart, a demon cannot experience the true pains and passions of existence. However, there is a legend that if a pure human heart is freely offered to a demon, it can become a mortal and experience true life. Sequel of Painted Skin (2008).
Starry Starry Night
Producer
There was once a young girl named May who felt alienated from everyone around her. May is worried about her mother and father, whose marriage is on the rocks, and she yearns to return to the woods where her grandfather lives. One day, May befriends a boy as lonely as she is. When reality catches up, they run away to a beautiful world that belongs only to them. Both imaginatively escapist and heartbreakingly realistic, their journey speaks to kids and adults alike with the pain of solitude, the sorrow of loss, and the warmth of hope.
10 Plus 10
Director
10+10 is a project initiated by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival to demonstrate the solidarity between Taiwanese film-makers. 20 directors are invited to make a 5-minute short film each on the theme of the “Uniqueness of Taiwan,” but allowed total freedom in all other aspects.
If You Are the One 2
Producer
A sequel to one of China's biggest box office hits, the wry romantic comedy "Fei Cheng Wu Rao 2" ("If You Are the One 2") — the first Chinese release to open in its homeland and North America on the same day — continues the odd-couple courtship saga of wealthy, middle-aged retiree Qin Fen (Ge You) and serious-minded young air hostess Xiaoxiao (Shu Qi).After an amusing prelude in which Qin presides over a lavish divorce ceremony for an amicably splitting married couple, he and Xiaoxiao decide to address their own relationship barriers — her youth and beauty, his cynical, childish sense of humor — by entering into a trial marriage while on a trip to the country's tropical southeast.
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Writer
An exiled detective is recruited to solve a series of mysterious deaths that threaten to delay the inauguration of Empress Wu.A bizarre murder mystery brings together the most powerful woman in China, the soon-to-be-Empress Wu Zetian and a formerly exiled detective, Dee Renjie at the infamous Imperial Palace. Hoping he will solve the crime before her coronation, Wu appoints Dee Chief Judge of the Empire and implores him to combine his indisputable wisdom with his unparalleled martial arts skills to save the future of her dynasty. Director Tsui Hark (Seven Swords) teams with stunt director Sammo Hung in this heart-pounding, epic thriller inspired by the incredible true story of one of the Tang Dynasty's most celebrated officials.
Aftershock
Producer
The epic story of a family separated as a result of the Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976. Based on the Tangshan Earthquake in 1976 that took the lives of 240,000 people.
The Message
Screenplay
1942, Nanjing (Nanking). Following a series of assassination attempts on officials of the Japanese-controlled puppet government, the Japanese spy chief gathers a group of suspects in a mansion house for questioning. A tense game of "cat and mouse" ensues as the Chinese code-breaker attempts to send out a crucial message while protecting his/her own identity.
The Message
Director
1942, Nanjing (Nanking). Following a series of assassination attempts on officials of the Japanese-controlled puppet government, the Japanese spy chief gathers a group of suspects in a mansion house for questioning. A tense game of "cat and mouse" ensues as the Chinese code-breaker attempts to send out a crucial message while protecting his/her own identity.
If You Are the One
Producer
Qin Fen, a funny, honest, single inventor, met a girl called Smiley, who was in agony of her boyfriend's betrayal. They traveled to Hokkaido, tried to help Smiley cure her pain in heart, and both of them gradually found their true love and life redemption during the journey.
Forever Enthralled
Screenplay
The epic story Mei Lanfang, who overcame the prejudice against artists in 1930s China to become the country's greatest opera star.
What on Earth Have I Done Wrong?!
Executive Producer
Doze runs into many problems as he tries to secure funding for what he thinks will be the next mockumentary blockbuster.
A World Without Thieves
Producer
Two grifters, Wang Bo and Wang Li, a couple who've been arguing, board a train in rural China. He wants to fleece a peasant, nicknamed Dumbo for his naiveté, who's carrying 60,000 yuan and trusts everyone. She wants to protect the hick kid, an act of expiation brought on by prayer and a visit to a temple. Also on board are one of more sets of thieves, including a calculating boss and his femme fatale. The boss wants to recruit Wang Bo, and a series of contests ensue, with the potential of turning deadly. While Li guards Dumbo from Bo and the others, can she and Bo sort out their relationship? And can Dumbo's simple spirituality touch anyone else?
Mountain Patrol
Producer
A moving true story about volunteers protecting antelope against poachers in the severe mountains of Tibet.
Warriors of Heaven and Earth
Executive Producer
A Chinese emissary is sent to the Gobi desert to execute a renegade soldier. When a caravan transporting a Buddhist monk and a valuable treasure is threatened by thieves, however, the two warriors might unite to protect the travelers.
Double Vision
Writer
An FBI Agent pairs with a troubled Taiwan cop to hunt for a serial killer who's embedding a mysterious fungus in the brains of victims.
Double Vision
Director
An FBI Agent pairs with a troubled Taiwan cop to hunt for a serial killer who's embedding a mysterious fungus in the brains of victims.
Double Vision
Producer
An FBI Agent pairs with a troubled Taiwan cop to hunt for a serial killer who's embedding a mysterious fungus in the brains of victims.
B.T.S. (Better Than Sex)
Producer
A web of connected stories on adventure, sex, and love in Taiwan, including a 17 y.o. boy with a porn obsession, three hoodlums, and a self-righteous police officer.
Big Shot's Funeral
Producer
Yankie director Don Tyler faces mounting insecurity and declining health while on location in Beijing, so his assistant hires down-and-out camerman YoYo to take the reins. Scrambling, studio boss sells the sagging picture to a Japanese media company. But YoYo is determined to upstage the whole production by granting the director's wish to have a grand "comedy funeral". To raise the money for it, he auctions off advertising and sponsorships for the funeral to companies around the world. But wait...is Don getting better?
HHH - Un portrait de Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Entry on Taiwanese new-wave filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien for French television's "Cinéma, de notre temps" series, directed by Olivier Assayas.
The Personals
Writer
An attractive and successful doctor places a personal ad in a newspaper to try to meet (and eventually marry) Mr. Right. A succession of blind dates ensues, featuring men who are lonely, desperate, dangerous and perverted.
The Personals
Director
An attractive and successful doctor places a personal ad in a newspaper to try to meet (and eventually marry) Mr. Right. A succession of blind dates ensues, featuring men who are lonely, desperate, dangerous and perverted.
The Peony Pavilion
Director
A high school student and a pop singer meld reality with fiction as they both fantasize themselves as characters in a Ming dynasty tale of seduction - "The Peony Pavilion."
Treasure Island
Screenplay
A group of young Taipei residents is drawn into the city’s underworld through the growing obsession of one, the boyish Ah-feng, for the sexy Cantonese mistress of a gang boss.
Treasure Island
Director
A group of young Taipei residents is drawn into the city’s underworld through the growing obsession of one, the boyish Ah-feng, for the sexy Cantonese mistress of a gang boss.
Dangerous Choices
Director
The film explores the friendship between two school girls balanced on the cups between childhood and the adult world. The break between them comes when Leah, the headstrong and fearless of the two, severs the already fragile bonds of family and school life and rushes headlong into a darker world where, if pressures still exist, the players are at least less judgmental. Meanwhile, Sarah, timid and more plant by nature, nevertheless rebels against her friend's choice and is at first relegated to spectator while Leah is almost willingly made the pawn of the destructive man she loves. As Leah slides deeper into the surreal, we watch as Sarah makes her own extraordinarily dangerous choices to save her friend from certain destruction.
School Girl
Director
黑色假面
Director