Yang, who died Friday, was best known as the figurehead of the new-wave Taiwanese cinema, Variety.com reported.

His best known film, "A One and a Zero" (Yi yi)," won him the best director prize at Cannes in 2000.

Yang studied film briefly at the University of Southern California before deciding against a career in film. He came back to it after Werner Herzog's "Aguirre the Wrath of God."

Yang focused on urban themes, notably in 1996's "Mahjong" and 1991's "A Brighter Summer Day."

Yang was supposed to make the $25 million animated film "The Wind," with Jackie Chan this year, but the project was cut short when Yang fell ill.