Edward Yang | Film director, 59

Edward Yang, 59, who won best director in 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival and was known for his realistic portrayals of modern Taiwan, died of complications from colon cancer Friday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Mr. Yang was born in Shanghai in 1947, and his family moved from mainland China to Taiwan amid the civil war between the communists and the ruling Nationalists, according to his biography in the book Speaking in Images: Interviews with Contemporary Chinese Filmmakers.

Pursuing what was considered a prestigious career in Taiwan, he studied engineering on the island, received a master's degree at the University of Florida and worked as a computer engineer before becoming a filmmaker.

Mr. Yang favored stories set in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei. Among his works are A Brighter Summer Day, a 1991 film set in 1950s Taipei about Elvis-worshipping teenage boys who get involved with gangsters.

The film was viewed as a major incubator of Taiwanese movie talent and an important documentation of the island's history under authoritarian Nationalist rule. One character is shown being questioned by Taiwanese police in the middle of the night, common treatment at the time for locals suspected of communist sympathies.

Among the many first-time movie professionals who worked on A Brighter Summer Day was Taiwanese actor Chang Chen who went on to star in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Ang Lee kung fu hit.

Mr. Yang won best director at Cannes in 2000 for Yi Yi (A One and a Two), about Taiwanese family members who cope with the serious illness of the elderly matriarch.

He is survived by his wife, concert pianist Kaili Peng, his son, Sean, 6, and a sister and brother. - AP