Filmmaker Tsai Ming-Liang was born and raised in Malaysia and graduated in 1982 from the Chinese Cultural University of Taiwan, where he is now based. Tsai worked in Taiwanese theater and television in the 1980s and soon after began directing films quickly embraced by an international audience. His films include Rebels of the Neon God (1992), The River (1997), The Hole (1998), Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003), The Wayward Cloud (2005), Face (2009), and Days (2020), all of which have been shown and honored at film festivals worldwide. In 1994, he won the Golden Lion at the 51st Venice International Film Festival for Vive L’Amour. His 2006 feature I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone received the Cinema for Peace Award at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. In 2014, the French government named him an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.

Paris-based filmmaker Claire Denis began her career as an assistant director to Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, and Costa-Gavras. Her debut film, 1988’s Chocolat, was dubbed a “miniature classic” by The New York Times’ Vincent Canby. In the ensuing years, Denis has directed over 20 theatrical and television films, including J’ai Pas Sommeil (1994), Beau Travail (1999), L’intrus (2004), White Material (2009), Volià l’enchaînement (2014), Let the Sunshine In (2017), High Life (2018), Both Sides of the Blade (2022), Stars at Noon (2022). She is also a film professor at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.