Chin Ting-chang () is a Taiwanese cinematographer best known for his frequent collaborations with Wei Te-sheng. He gained recognition for his work on Cape No. 7 (2008), for which he won Best Cinematography in the 10th Taipei Film Awards and received a nomination for Best Cinematography in the 45th Golden Horse Awards. He later earned another nomination for Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (2011) in the 48th Golden Horse Awards, as well as three Best Cinematography nominations for Prince of Tears (2009), Where the Wind Blows (2022), and Papa (2024) in the 29th, 41st, and 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards respectively.
Career Chin graduated from the Department of Radio and Television Studies at Shih Hsin University. During his sophomore year, he interned at a film production company alongside a senior, and he later returned to that company for a full-time position after graduation. He entered the film industry in 1994, starting as an Assistant Camera on Chen Kuo-fu's , working under cinematographer Christopher Doyle. He met Wei Te-sheng on the set of Edward Yang's Mahjong, where Wei was the assistant director. The two became acquainted due to their shared vision of filming localized stories despite commercial constraints, marking the beginning of their close collaboration. In 1999, Wei began writing his first screenplay, which later developed into Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale. Chin found the project immersive and of Hollywood quality, motivating him to improve his cinematography skills for such ambitious work. He made his cinematography debut with the 2000 documentary Grandma's Hairpin and received two Golden Bell Award for Best Cinematography for a Drama Series nominations for the television series Crystal Boys and . Chin cited Mark Lee Ping-bing's cinematography as a major influence on his style, while Va Kio Daily described Chin's cinematography style as adept in natural lighting and expressive character capture.
In 2003, Wei self-funded NTD$2.5 million to film a five-minute trailer for Seediq Bale, with Chin directing the shoot. Chin's first feature film collaboration with Wei was as director of photography for Cape No. 7. The film broke the Taiwanese box office record with a gross of over NTD$500 million, and Chin won Best Cinematography in the 10th Taipei Film Awards and received a nomination for Best Cinematography in the 45th Golden Horse Awards. That same year, he also made his international debut with the South Korean action-comedy film My Mighty Princess, collaborating with Kwak Jae-yong, and earned a Master of Arts from Shih Hsin University. In 2009, Chin shot the Taiwanese-Hong Kong historical drama Prince of Tears and the romantic comedy Hear Me, earning a nomination for Best Cinematography in the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards with the former.
Chin and Wei collaborated again on Seediq Bale, which garnered Chin another nomination in the 48th Golden Horse Awards and a nomination for Best Cinematographer in the 6th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle praised Chin's "dreamy" cinematography; while Don Groves of SBS Australia lauded his "widescreen photography" that gave the film "a grey, gloomy look". Chin continued to work on Night Market Hero, the Chinese film , and the Hokkien film . In 2014, Chin worked on the sports film Kano, written and produced by Wei Te-sheng. Maggie Lee of Variety commended the film's grandeur, highlighting Chin's "sweeping widescreen visuals" that "captures the whirlwind movement and gut-busting exertion on the [baseball] field"; while James Marsh of ScreenAnarchy credited Chin's "sumptuous photography" for conveying the film's "grand spectacle". Chin reunited with the Kano production crew on the Malaysian film Ola Bola, and was selected to work on the fantasy film due to his work on Seediq Bale. In 2017, Chin collaborated with Wei again on his third feature 52Hz, I Love You, and later shot the Taiwanese films and .
In 2022, Chin lensed Philip Yung's Hong Kong crime thriller Where the Wind Blows, with Philip Concannon of Sight and Sound praising his cinematography for "elegantly" enhancing the drama. He received a nomination in the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards for his work. Due to scheduling conflicts, he was absent from the filming of Wei Te-sheng's 2023 drama , but assisted in the post-production editing, particularly on color grading. In 2024, he collaborated with Philip Yung again on the feature film Papa. Leon Kuo of GQ praised his shots as "realistic and spiritually rich", which resemble a historical epic, and the film earned him another nomination in the 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards. Chin is also set to reunite with Wei on his upcoming project Taiwan Trilogy.
Filmography Film Year Title Notes 1995 Assistant Camera 1996 Mahjong Assistant Camera 2000 Grandma's Hairpin 2006 2008 Cape No. 7 My Mighty Princess 2009 Prince of Tears Hear Me 2011 Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale Night Market Hero 2012 2014 Kano 2016 Ola Bola 2017 52Hz, I Love You 2018 2020 2022 Where the Wind Blows 2024 Papa
Television Year Title Notes 2003 Crystal Boys 2005
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 2003 38th Golden Bell AwardsBest Cinematography for a Drama Series Crystal Boys 2005 40th Golden Bell Awards 2008 10th Taipei Film Awards Best CinematographyCape No. 7 45th Golden Horse Awards Best Cinematography 2010 29th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Cinematography Prince of Tears 2011 48th Golden Horse Awards Best CinematographyWarriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale 2012 6th Asia Pacific Screen Awards Best Cinematographer 2023 41st Hong Kong Film AwardsBest Cinematography Where the Wind Blows 2025 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards Papa
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