Taiwan director Hou Hsiao-hsien scooped the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday for his slow-burning minimalist drama, The Assassin.

The film is set in ninth-century China, at the end of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), with Asian megastar Shu Qi playing a highly trained female assassin who, after failing in one mission, is sent back to her home province to kill its governor, who is also the man she loves.

Despite its action-packed premise, the film is a study in lingering, contemplative art from director Hou, who continues a similar aesthetic from his previous films, Millennium Mambo and The Puppetmaster.