Mou Tun-fei (Chinese: 牟敦芾; pinyin: Móu DÅ«nfèi; Wadeâ€"Giles:
Mou2 Tun1-fei4) (May 3, 1941 - May 25, 2019) was a Chinese filmmaker
known for directing the infamous 1988 film Men Behind the Sun.Born on
May 3, 1941 in Shandong, China, Mou's family left China for Taiwan in
1949 due to Chinese Civil War. Mou graduated from National School of
Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts) that could not even
afford equipment for the students. Mou thus was forced to learn
filmmaking by theory alone, mainly by watching films numerous times in
theaters and identifying how many cuts the films contained. After
graduation, Mou was assistant director on an anti-communist propaganda
film called Give Back My Country and then directed numerous Taiwanese
films in a style akin to the Italian neorealist movement. His first
and second feature I don't dare to tell you (1969) and At the runway's
edge (1970) were both banned by Taiwanese government, especially the
latter film contained homosexual overtones.In 1977, Mou settled in
Hong Kong and joined the Shaw Brothers, his first film there being
Gun, a segment in the fifth film of the Shaw’s exploitation true
crime series The Criminals. While at the Shaw Brothers, he would
dabble in crime (Bank Busters), romance (Melody of Love), horror
(Haunted Tales) and kung-fu (A Deadly Secret). However, his most
notable work for the Shaw Brothers would be Lost Souls (1980); telling
the story of a group of illegal immigrants taken captive and sexually
and physically abused by a gang of human traffickers, Lost Souls has
often been called a brazen, vicious and outrageous exploitation film
and a film that brings Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days
of Sodom to mind.Mou then left the Shaw Brothers to become the first
director from Taiwan to work in the mainland. While working on a
children’s kung fu film called Young Heroes, Mou began to hear
stories about war atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army
during World War II. One account, of how the Japanese military had
performed every manner of horrific experiment on Chinese POWs and
civilians while stationed at Unit 731 in Manchuria, particularly
grabbed Mou. Thus, he decided to make a film about it. Originally, he
wanted to make a documentary, but he then realized that the Japanese
army had destroyed or classified most of the photographs and films so
he set about making a staged recreation instead. The film that
resulted, a collaboration between Hong Kong and the mainland, would be
the horror film Men Behind the Sun. After co-directing the hardcore
pornographic film Trilogy of Lust with Julie Lee Wa-Yuet, Mou set
about making a sequel to Men Behind the Sun, this time visiting the
1937 Nanjing Massacre (or Rape of Nanking) called Black Sun: The
Nanking Massacre although this has yet to be released.
Mou2 Tun1-fei4) (May 3, 1941 - May 25, 2019) was a Chinese filmmaker
known for directing the infamous 1988 film Men Behind the Sun.Born on
May 3, 1941 in Shandong, China, Mou's family left China for Taiwan in
1949 due to Chinese Civil War. Mou graduated from National School of
Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts) that could not even
afford equipment for the students. Mou thus was forced to learn
filmmaking by theory alone, mainly by watching films numerous times in
theaters and identifying how many cuts the films contained. After
graduation, Mou was assistant director on an anti-communist propaganda
film called Give Back My Country and then directed numerous Taiwanese
films in a style akin to the Italian neorealist movement. His first
and second feature I don't dare to tell you (1969) and At the runway's
edge (1970) were both banned by Taiwanese government, especially the
latter film contained homosexual overtones.In 1977, Mou settled in
Hong Kong and joined the Shaw Brothers, his first film there being
Gun, a segment in the fifth film of the Shaw’s exploitation true
crime series The Criminals. While at the Shaw Brothers, he would
dabble in crime (Bank Busters), romance (Melody of Love), horror
(Haunted Tales) and kung-fu (A Deadly Secret). However, his most
notable work for the Shaw Brothers would be Lost Souls (1980); telling
the story of a group of illegal immigrants taken captive and sexually
and physically abused by a gang of human traffickers, Lost Souls has
often been called a brazen, vicious and outrageous exploitation film
and a film that brings Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days
of Sodom to mind.Mou then left the Shaw Brothers to become the first
director from Taiwan to work in the mainland. While working on a
children’s kung fu film called Young Heroes, Mou began to hear
stories about war atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army
during World War II. One account, of how the Japanese military had
performed every manner of horrific experiment on Chinese POWs and
civilians while stationed at Unit 731 in Manchuria, particularly
grabbed Mou. Thus, he decided to make a film about it. Originally, he
wanted to make a documentary, but he then realized that the Japanese
army had destroyed or classified most of the photographs and films so
he set about making a staged recreation instead. The film that
resulted, a collaboration between Hong Kong and the mainland, would be
the horror film Men Behind the Sun. After co-directing the hardcore
pornographic film Trilogy of Lust with Julie Lee Wa-Yuet, Mou set
about making a sequel to Men Behind the Sun, this time visiting the
1937 Nanjing Massacre (or Rape of Nanking) called Black Sun: The
Nanking Massacre although this has yet to be released.
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