Sydney’s winter just got a little bit warmer. The Taiwan Film Festival (TWFF) launches for the first time in Australia, showing the depth and breadth of cinematic works from Taiwan. Nine features and four short films will play across the last weekend in July. Sydney’s Event Cinemas on George Street will host the debut festival from 27-29 July 2018. Now we have something to pass the time between the Sydney Film Festival and KOFFIA in August.
TWFF opens with Bo An’s SEN SEN (生生) and closes with FATHER TO SON (范保德) from award-winning Hsiao Ya-Chuan and produced by Hou Hsiao-Hsien. One of the main highlights of the festival is THE STORY OF STONE (紅樓夢), a contemporary adaptation of the classic novel by the same name. A depiction of gay life in Taipei, the film explores stereotypes of male masculinity and the darker side of Taiwan. Director Starr Wu will appear for a special guest Q&A session after the film screening.
Having developed outside the Hong Kong mainstream and the censorship of the People’s Republic of China, the cinema of Taiwan offers more than just the collective works of Ang Lee and Hsiao-Hsien Hou. Case in point is TWFF’s THE TAG-ALONG 2 (紅衣小女孩2), a sequel to the popular Taiwanese horror film. The popularity of documentaries is also represented in the environmentally focused BLACK BEAR FOREST (黑熊森林).
There will also be a series of short films playing with the features. Each of the shorts, whittled down from a competition of 40 films, will compete for a the inaugural TWFF short film prize. We look forward to TWFF being our new favourite winter festival.
Check out a full catalogue of the festival’s offerings below, and explore more of our featured content in our Asia in Focus section.
SEN SEN (生生)
Debuting for the first time in Australia, director Bon An (Black Sheep) is behind the opening night film. After the titular Sen Sen inherits his brother’s mobile phone, he discovers that his brother follows an online webcast named ‘Surviving 100 Days’. The star of the webcast is Granny Lili (Hong Kong actress Nina Paw, Our Time Will Come), who has been diagnosed with an inoperable cancer. Together they try and work out the secrets of life and death. This is another Australian premiere.
BLACK BEAR FOREST (黑熊森林)
Lee Hsiang-hsiu’s documentary traces the journey of an indigenous hunter and female ecologist Mei-Hsiu Hwang, affectionately nicknamed ‘Mother Black Bear,’ as they search Yushan National Park for evidence on the Black Bears.
THE BOLD, THE CORRUPT AND THE BEAUTIFUL (血觀音)
Looking for a little crime drama? The 2017 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival winner for Best Feature and Leading Actress (Kara Hui) takes us back to the 1980s in what the festival describes as “an extravagant mix of soap and thriller.” Sounds like there will be foam. Screens with short film BACK (回神).
THE LAST PAINTING (自畫像)
Said to be inspired by the works of Brian De Palma, writer/director Chen Hung-I crafts a drama in which university student Yang Chieh is found dead in her rented flat on the day of the Presidential Election. Screens with short film MOTHER (母親).
THE STORY OF THE STONE (紅樓夢)
A contemporary adaptation of the classic novel by the same name. A depiction of gay life in Taipei, the film explores stereotypes of male masculinity and the darker side of Taiwan. Director Starr Wu will appear for a special guest Q&A session after the film screening.
TAKE ME TO THE MOON (帶我去月球)
Hsieh Chun-yi takes the title of this romance from the late “music magician” Chang Yu-sheng’s song. After learning of the death of a past love, a man regrets having encouraged her in pursuing the dream that killed her. When he spontaneously travels back in time to his old high school band, he gets a chance to stop her from making the same mistakes. Screens with short film DRAGON NINE (龍九子).
THE GREAT BUDDHA+ (大佛普拉斯)
The set-up for this should be enough to encourage viewership: “Two middle-aged losers stumble upon a crime.” It’s also the first feature narrative from Taiwanese documentarian Huang Hsin-yao, who expands his 2014 short film here. Leads Bamboo Chen and Cres Chuang have been described as a “scuzzy yet endearing duo. It screened at the Sydney Film Festival this year to great audience acclaim.
THE TAG-ALONG 2 (紅衣小女孩2)
One of the commercial successes at the Taiwanese box office last year, earning NT$105 million domestically against its NT$45 million budget, Cheng Wei-hao returns to direct a sequel to his 2015 film. Screens with short film IPHIGENIA’S NIGHT (伊菲基妮亞之夜).
FATHER TO SON (范保德)
The closing night film is from award-winning Hsiao Ya-Chuan (Exchanges) and produced by regular collaborator and Taiwanese film legend Hou Hsiao-Hsien (A City of Sadness, The Assassin). A 60 year-old man with a serious illness decides to go to Japan to find the father who abandoned him decades before.
