John Hsu
John HSU (1981, Taiwan) graduated with an MFA in Radio, Television and Film from Shih Hsin University. Always interested in digital culture, video games, comedy and sci-fi genres, he won the Best Director Award at the Golden Bell Awards 2005, the biggest television award in Taiwan, with his TV movie debut Real Online (2005). Hsu was a member of Berlinale Talent Campus 2007 and also a Shopsteward of INPUT 2009. Hsu is also one of the founders of AFK PL@YERS, Taiwan’s biggest machinima production group. His VR film Your Spiritual Temple Sucks (2017) was selected in more than forty film festivals, including Sundance, World VR Forum, BIFAN, Sydney and Neuchâtel. Hsu’s feature debut, Detention (2019), an adaptation of an internationally acclaimed Taiwanese indie game, became the best-selling Taiwanese film of the year. It was among the biggest winners at the Golden Horse Awards, with twelve nominations and five wins, including Best New Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Visual Effects. His newest feature film, Dead Talents Society (2024), had its world premiere at the 26th Taipei Film Festival and will be screened at IFFR 2025, marking Hsu’s return to Rotterdam.
Filmography
(selection) Server #15 (2005, short), Ching teng jou hsien shih/Real Online (2005, TV), Good Evening the Horde (2006, short), Azeroth Movie Top3 (2006, short), Thrall’s Christmas Tree (2007, short), The Patchie Chronicles (2007, short), Intoxicant (2008, short), Wrath of a Couch Potato (2008, short), Major League Azeroth (2009, short), Cataclysm Millionaire (2010, short), Cataclysm on a Couch Potato (2011, short), After Dark (2011, short), Quest Busters (2011, short), Anton Pourquoi: No Reroll EP1-EP3 (2012, short), Hsiao ching hsin da bao cha/The Great Escape from Café City (2013, short), A ba de tien chi yu bao/Weather Report of the End (2015, short), Your Spiritual Temple Sucks (2017, short), Fan shiao/Detention (2019), Nî de hun yin bú shì nî de hun yin/Wishful Syncing (2022), Gui Cai Zhi Dao/Dead Talents Society (2024)
More info: Wikipedia, John Hsu
John Hsu at IFFR
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Dead Talents Society
Shy ghost discovers the art of scaring – and her self-worth – in this horror comedy.
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Real Online
Hilarious virtual comedy. For the screening at the festival, the Chinese pirate copy of YouTube has been removed. Entirely in the spirit of the fil
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Intoxicant
Imaginative political satire. Whether the source of the satire can be followed so far from Taiwan remains to be seen, but it’s stunning.
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The Great Escape from Café City
Airy parody of everything airy in films, commercials and games. Boy-meets-girl with coffee. Hilarious, clever and consciously a little silly.
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Detention
China’s occupation of Taiwan takes on nightmarish logic in this psychological horror film.
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Weather Report of the End
Bizarrely funny, small science-fiction film. Meteors and monsters determine the rough weather. The special effects are of an endearingly retro qual
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After Dark
The filmmaker’s muse, Hannah Lin, as an almost blind masseuse. Why doesn’t she want to be cured? What is so comforting about the dark?