Cheng Wen-tang

Cheng was born in Yilan County, Taiwan in 1958 and grew up in Luodong.[1] He graduated from Chinese drama school of the Chinese Culture University.[2]

Cheng got his start in filmmaking making documentaries, with a focus on social movements in 1980s Taiwan.[2] He made his first television film debut with Lanyang River Youth (1998).[2]

Cheng's first collaboration with his daughter, Enno Cheng, was on Badu's Homework. The short film was her writing debut at 16 and won Best Short at the 2003 Golden Horse Awards.[2]

Cheng began serving as president of the Kaohsiung Film Festival in 2004.[3]

The National Palace Museum commissioned Cheng to produce a short film with a NT$8,000,000 budget. Given the size of the budget, he convinced the museum to turn the project into a feature length film that could be released commercially; Cheng brought in another NT$1,000,000 for the budget. The Passage later earned NT$1,100,000 at the box office and was entered into the Tokyo Film Festival.[1]

His second feature Somewhere Over the Dreamland (2002) is about two Aboriginal Taiwanese men's adventure in urban Taipei. It was screened at the 59th Venice International Film Festival as part of the International Critics' Week section.[4]

Cheng has taught at National Chengchi University's College of Communications as an assistant-professor level contracted teacher since 2012.[5]

Cheng and Chang Yih-feng collaborated on the music video for "Supreme Pain for the Tyrant", Chthonic's song from their 2013 album Bu-Tik.[6]

Cheng has expressed an admiration for realism, specifically the works of authors Huang Chun-ming and Chen Yingzhen and director Ken Loach.[1]

Cheng is the father of singer-songwriter Enno Cheng.[7]