in august 2006, hou embarked on his first western project. filmed and financed entirely in france, "flight of the red balloon" (2007) is the story of a french family as seen through the eyes of a chinese student. the film is the first part in a series of films sponsored by the musée d'orsay and stars juliette binoche. in 2010, hou directed the 3d short film for taipei pavilion in expo 2010 shanghai china.