With over four decades of experience working in more than 100 films, Mark Lee Ping-Bing has established himself as one of the most respected cinematographers in world cinema today. Revered as ‘a poet of light and shadow’, Lee has worked with directors such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Wong Kar Wai, Sylvia Chang, Ann Hui, Gilles Bourdos, Tian Zhuangzhuang, and Hirokazu Kore-eda, among others.

Born in Fongshan District, Kaohsiung in 1954, Lee has fond memories of watching wuxia films in the village cinema. His obsession with film led to an apprenticeship as a camera assistant at the age of 22. He later became a cinematographer in his own right for Taiwanese and Hong Kong productions before beginning his more than three-decade professional partnership with director Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Together, they set the tone for a style that would epitomise New Taiwanese Cinema and beyond. Lee is instilled with the sensibilities of Taiwanese arthouse, yet years of plying his trade in Hong Kong has made him highly adaptive and shrewd in dealing with all sorts of filmmaking conditions. He has found himself in different corners of the world, travelling wherever filmmaking takes him.

Lee, renowned for his use of natural light and long takes, is highly sought after by filmmakers as a creative partner. In a medium where the director is often seen as the de facto author, Lee’s artistry makes a strong case for recognition of the man with a movie camera.