The film is also known as Nie Yinniang.

First Festival Screening – September 13, 2015 @ 9:00 PM at The Scotiabank Theatre
Last Festival Screening – September 15, 2015 @ 5:00 PM at The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

WINNER – BEST DIRECTOR – Cannes Film Festival – 2015
Official Selection – Toronto International Film Festival – 2015
Official Selection – New York Film Festival – 2015
Official Selection – Fantastic Fest – 2015

Director – Hou Hsiao-hsien

Taiwan has announced that THE ASSASSIN will be their official entry to the 2016 Academy Awards. The ministry of culture made the decision. They stated: “THE ASSASSIN was selected because the film’s technical aspect has reached a pinnacle. The film conveys a classical atmosphere and humanity through its cinematography, lighting, art direction and character modeling. Director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s film techniques have remained the same, but the film shows Hou’s strong ambition to create a new film language and style.”

Back with his first film in 8 years, Legendary Taiwanese Director Hou Hsiao-hsien wowed this year’s Cannes Film Festival (where he won Best Director) with his awe-inspiring THE ASSASSIN – a wondrous take on the traditional wuxia film. The story is simple, if elusive:

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ASSASSIN

Synopsis
In 9th-century China, Nie Yinniang is a young woman who was abducted in childhood from a decorated general and raised by a nun who trained her in the martial arts. After 13 years of exile, she is returned to the land of her birth as an exceptional assassin, with orders to kill her betrothed husband-to-be. She must confront her parents, her memories, and her long-repressed feelings in a choice to sacrifice the man she loves or break forever with the sacred way of the righteous assassins. Rich with shimmering, breathing texture and punctuated by brief but unforgettable bursts of action, THE ASSASSIN is a martial arts film like none made before it. Also playing at the New York Film Festival.

Opens in the US on Oct 16, 2015 from Well Go USA | 104 min

Please visit The Toronto International Film Festival Page for more information.

Originally Posted on September 13, 2015