Doyle, Christopher

(a.k.a.Du Kefeng)

b. 1952, Sydney

Cinematographer, photographer, film director

Christopher Doyle, known for his unique handheld camerawork, is among the most important cinematographers in contemporary Chinese cinema.

Doyle worked as a seaman and in agriculture before studying art history at the University of Maryland and Chinese at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In the early 1980s he worked as a cameraman and editor for a television station in Taiwan, before shooting That Day on the Beach (Haitan de yitian), a landmark work in New Taiwan Cinema directed by Edward Yang. In 1991, Days of Being Wild (A fei zhengzhuan) marked the beginning of a long and fruitful creative relationship between the cinematographer and Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai, which has produced such films as Chongking Express (Chongqing senlin), Fallen Angels (Duoluo tianshi), Ashes of Time (Dongxie xidu), Happy Together (Chunguang zhaxia), and In the Mood for Love (Huayang nianhua).

Although best known for his signature camera work with Wong Kar-wai, Doyle has also worked with other important Chinese directors, including Stanley Kwan and Sylvia Chang from Hong Kong, Lai Shengchuan and Chen Guo-fu from Taiwan, and Zhang Yuan, Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou from the PRC. Doyle’s success in the Chinese film world has earned him several major international awards, bringing him to the attention of Hollywood, where he shot Gus Van Sant’s remake of Psycho (2000), and more recently Rabbit-Proof Fence and The Quiet American.

Besides his work as a cinematographer, Doyle has acted in several films, most notably Peter Chan’s Comrades (Tian mimi), and has authored several books of essays and photos, including A Cloud in Trousers and Don’t Try for Me Argentina. Doyle made his directorial debut in 1998 with Away With Words (Santiao ren), an experimental film about a young Japanese drifter, a gay Australian man and a Chinese fashion designer, whose paths cross in post-handover Hong Kong.

MICHAEL BERRY