Pan Lei

(1927 - 2017)

Pan Lei (潘壘), a Taiwanese film director and writer, was born on August 4, 1927, whose original name was Pan Chengde(Chinese: 潘承德), also known as Pan Lei(Chinese: 潘磊) and his pen name Xinxi(心曦). After joining the army to fight the Japanese at the border of China and India, he came to Taiwan in 1949 and became a well known writer and journal publisher. He began his film career as a scriptwriter and directed his first film in 1959. His third film Typhoon (颱風; 1962) was outstanding among its contemporary films with its bold presentation of female desire and artistic achievement, which won him the praise of "Father of Taiwanese Art Cinema" (台灣藝術電影之父) and the invitation to make films for the Shaw Brothers. He died on July 22, 2017.