TAIWAN FILMFEST 2013-2014

  • DATE : 27/11/2013 03/12/2013
  • TIME : 18:00–21:00
  • VENUE : Filmhouse

7 award winning feature films by emerging Taiwanese filmmakers had been handpicked to share with the audience of Edinburgh, each with a unique theme and telling touching modern stories in Taiwan, connected by the common thread of relationship and family. We hope they give a glimpse into the kaleidoscopic life of Taiwan. We are also honoured to have film directors Jung-Chi Chang (Touch of the LightTaipei Factory), Ko-Shang Shen (A Rolling StoneTaipei Factory) and Yin-Chuan Tsai (Stile) and cast from the films to attend audience Q&A after the screening, as well as an Asian Film Workshop in Edinburgh College of Art.

27 November 2013 Touch of The Light  逆光飛翔  

 Director Jung-chi Chang | 2012 | Taiwan, Hong Kong | 110 mins

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Presented by Wong Kar Wai, Touch of Light is based on the real life story of Yu-Siang Huang, who stars as himself. Touch of The Light tells Huang’s story as a blind piano prodigy from rural Taiwan and his relationship with Xiao Jie (Sandrine PINNA), a young woman who dreams of becoming a dancer despite enormous challenges. Winner of multiple Golden Horse awards and Taiwan’s submissions for the Academy Award in 2012, the film is critically acclaimed and warmly received worldwide, blessed with the most striking performance by Yu-Siang Huang as it celebrates triumphs of those who dare to dream. The screening is followed by a piano recital performed by Yu-Siang Huang and Q&A with director Jung-Chi Chang. (read more…) 

 

28 November 2013 Taipei Factory 台北工廠

Directors Singing Chen, Jéro Yun, Midi Z, Joana Preiss, Shen Ko-shang, Luis Cifuentes, Chang Jung-chi, Alireza Khatami | 2013 | Taiwan | 72mins 

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Taipei Factory is a joined project by the Directors’ Fortnight and Taipei Film Commission to focus on the emerging talents, four young Taiwanese directors are paired with their equals from Chile, France, Iran, and South Korea to share their life experience, co-wrote and co-directed four short films in 17 days, based on their impressions and imaginations of Taipei. (read more…)

The screening is followed by Q&A with directors Ko-Shang Shen and Jung-Chi Chang

 

29 November 2013 Together 甜。秘密

Director Chao-jen Hsu | 2012 | Taiwan | 114 min |

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Do you still remember being a 17-year-old? Everyone around Xiao Yang, a 17-year-old high school boy, keeps secrets and suffers from heartbreak. His father runs a print shop and meets a girl next door, Li who is about to get married soon. Meantime, his shopkeeper mother gets close to her neighbor tailor, Shian. Yang tries to set up a date for his sister Lang who just got dumped. Also, Yang needs to cover his friend Mao who has a lovers’ quarrel to girlfriend Tian. As the only one who’s alone, Yang quietly witnesses the romances from a distance and secretly reads those love letters he helps deliver (read more…)

 

30 November 2013 A Rolling Stone 築巢人

Director Ko-shang Shen | 2012 | Taiwan | 54 min | Documentary

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A pair of father and son, unable to communicate with each  other, yet they only have each other. The son is physically a 30-year-old man and mentally a 13-year-old kid, even more self-centred, innocent, and elusive. The 50 years old father has to play various roles to hold up this family. He is both father and mother, his only friend and the only provider, and he strives to connect his son’s unique creations with this world. He always stays with his son, and they keep each other company in an almost silence, repetitively draw honeycombs together, make a gigantic tower with thousands of colour papers together. (read more…)

The screening is followed by Q&A with director Ko-Shang Shen.

 

1 December 2013 Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow    明天記得愛上我

Director Arvin Chun-lin Chen 2013 Taiwan, Hong Kong 105 min |

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Will you still love me tomorrow-web

In this madcap and lighthearted comedic romp from director writer Arvin Chen of “Au Revoir Taipei”, introverted optometrist Weichung begins to question his marriage with his wife Feng, upon learning of her desire to have another baby. At his sister Mandy’s engagement party, Weichung bumps into an old friend, Stephen, a wedding photographer who, though also married, is living the high life of a younger, single gay man. When Stephen teases Weichung for his newly straightlaced lifestyle, dormant emotions are awakened in Weichung, setting him off on a quest for true romance and desire. (read more…)

2 December 2013  Go Grandriders   不老騎士

Director Tien-hau Hua 2012 Taiwan 60 min Documentary

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Go grandrider

How much do you dare to dream once you turn 80? A blockbuster documentary in Tawian, Seventeen “Grandriders,” averaging 81-years-old, courageously embarked on a motorcycle tour around Taiwan. 2 have battled cancer, 4 need hearing aids, 5 suffer from high blood pressure, and 8 have coronary diseases; and every one of them has symptoms of joint degeneration. Yet, they courageously ride on motorcycles in order to feel the land they have lived on for entire lifetime. Their thirst for life is an infectious attitude that has inspired Taiwan and the rest of the world to respect the elderly, and inspired other seniors to pursue their dream with courage. (read more…)

 

3 December 2013 Stilt 候鳥來的季節

Directors Yin-chuan Tsai | 2012 | Taiwan | 107 mins |

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A bird expert, who watches migratory birds year after year, cannot simply be an observer to his own life.

Min who longs to be free like migratory birds, sees himself in family predicaments. There is growing tension between him and his barren wife. He and his brother, who were once in good terms, have been cold-shouldering each other for years. Under the frustration with work, his wife and his old home, how will he cope? In contrast to the come and goes of migratory birds, the relationships among the characters are rather complex. Yet the birds will finally bring a message of love to them. (read more…)

The screening is followed by Q&A with director/writer Yin-chuan Tsai.