Award-winning Taiwan drama opens Toronto Asian film festival

2018/11/12

Award-winning comedic drama “Dear Ex” kicked off the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival Nov. 8 in Canada, marking the first time the annual event has opened with a Taiwan production.
 
“Dear Ex” follows the recently widowed Liu San-lian, played by Hsieh Ying-xuan, as she wrestles with her dead husband’s gay lover Jay, portrayed by Roy Chiu, for the life insurance money. The drama escalates when her teenage son, trapped in the middle, moves in with Jay.
 
 According to the festival organizer, the film is a fitting reminder that refusing to embrace LGBT rights has real social and human consequences. It added the movie’s sensitive and sincere treatment of the issue “inspires hope for a more inclusive society.”
 
Co-directed by acclaimed TV scriptwriter Mag Hsu and emerging filmmaker Hsu Chih-yen, the movie won Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Narrative Feature and the Press Award at the 2018 Taipei Film Festival in July. It is nominated for eight Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan’s equivalent of the Oscars, to be held Nov. 17.
 
 Two other Taiwan movies are showing at the Toronto event—Chuang Ching-shen’s thriller “High Flash” and Chiang Chung-chieh’s short “Shiba San and Meow Chan.”
 
Running until Nov. 16, the festival features over 60 titles from more than 15 countries and territories, including France, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines and the U.S. Considered Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival, the event provides a platform for the region’s artists and helps drive an appreciation for Asian cinema in the North America nation.

Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=18&post=145104)