Hsiao Ya-Chuan is the filmmaker in focus at the Taiwan Film Festival in Australia this year.
Hsiao Ya-Chuan is a Taiwanese filmmaker who, much like his films, straddles different eras of the country’s history. Despite making his feature debut almost two decades ago, his slender filmography makes him one of the contemporary voices that regular represents Taiwan at international festivals.
Hsiao is no stranger to audiences at the TWFF, with FATHER TO SON (范保德, 2018) featuring as the closing night film at the first festival back in 2018. It follows 60 year-old Pao-Te Van, a character who learns of a terminal illness. Instead of seeking treatment, he travels to Japan to search for a father that abandoned him decades earlier.
It’s a film that echoes Hsiao’s own upbringing in some ways, one that he has openly described to the media. “My father’s frugality created a sense of insecurity in me,” he told the Tapiei Times during film’s release,”as if the family could run out of money anytime.” Although not directly autobiographical, it’s hard not to see Hsiao’s introspection in the crisply shot production filled with some fine performances.
Hsiao got his start with filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien, best know for his historical works like A City of Sadness (1989), The Puppetmaster (1993) and Good Men, Good Women (1995). Hsiao was also assistant director on Hou’s Flowers of Shanghai (1998) while honing his craft through commercials and short films. (Hou would continue to produce Hsiao’s films over this period).
Given Hsiao’s interest in how the past and present blend together, TWFF aptly transports us back to those early days in his career with his feature debut MIRROR IMAGE (命帶追逐, 2001).
The award-winning debut announced the arrival of Hsiao with a loose narrative that followed the search for a palm-print following an accident that erased the lifeline from the lead’s hand. Winning Best Film at the Taipei Film Festival that year, Variety called it “an unassuming but absorbing reflection on destiny and inheritance, fate and chance.”
Also screening is TAIPEI EXCHANGES (第三十六個故事, 2010), Hsiao’s multiple award-winning second feature is a hybrid of fiction and documentary.
It begins with a Taipei cafe, a barter system and 35 bars of soap – and goes from there. It stars the recognisable Gwei Lun-mei (The Wild Goose Lake) alongside Zaizai Lin and Chang Han.
While reviews for the film were mixed at the time of release, it’s one of those weird cases where life imitated art. Following the production of the film, the fictional cafe continued to operate as a real coffee shop! No wonder the Taipei tourism bureau invested in it.
All of Hsiao’s film will be available to stream individually ($2.99) or as a package ($35) for all the films playing at the festival. You can rent the films or buy a Festival Pass at www.taiwanfilmfestival.org.au from 9 to 30 July 2020.
Read more coverage of Taiwanese films from festivals and new releases. Plus go beyond Taiwan with more films from Asia in Focus.
