hou's seventeenth film and first "foreign language" film (which featured dialogue in both french and mandarin) was "flight of the red balloon" (2007) (french: "le voyage du ballon rouge"), which starred acclaimed french actress juliette binoche, hippolyte girardot, fang song and others. the film was nominated for the un certain regard award at the 2007 cannes film festival and also won the fipresci prize at the 2007 valladolid international film festival as well. the film's cinematographer, mark lee ping-bin aka ping bin lee, also won 2nd place for a best cinematography award from the national society of film critics.