After graduating foreign languages department at
Soochow University, he moved to USA, where he received
MA in Film from
Columbia College in California. While in America, he managed to create two well-received short films. In the early 80s he came back to Taiwan. In 1983 he was invited to direct one of the segments in an
omnibus film The Sandwich Man. His episode is entitled
The Taste of Apple (蘋果的滋味). The two other parts were directed by
Hou Hsiao-hsien and
Zeng Chuang-hsiang. This movie, together with another anthology film -
In Our Time (1982) - is considered a landmark in the emergence of the so-called
Taiwanese New Wave. Among his other films, the most significant are
Ah Fei (1984),
Super Citizen Ko (1995) and
Connection by Fate (1998). Wan Jen focuses mainly on issues concerning Taiwanese society - both historical and current ones. His works are valued for their political and social criticism. In 1996, the
Chinese Writer's & Artist's Association awarded him the Chinese Arts Medal for his achievements in the field of film. His wife,
Su Ming-Ming, is an actress. ==Filmography (as director)==