Virtual Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh to kick off Sept. 18

2020/08/17

The virtual Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh gets underway Sept. 18, serving up cinephiles a selection of 20 unrivaled pieces drawn from multiple genres over six decades.
 
 Organized by Taipei Representative Office in the U.K. with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute, the 10-day TFFE is accessible via video-sharing networks Festival Scope and Shift 72.
 
 The festival’s seven programs include the post-1980s Taiwan New Cinema and its Legacy, the 1970s A Borrowed Hong Kong, the Imagined China in Taiwan and Transregional Cinema, and the 1960s Melodrama Divas and Taiwanese Language Films and Genres.
 
 Other programs are Shorts: The Unusual Usual about emerging filmmakers tackling social issues while opting for alternative distribution channels, Docs: Exploring Diversity in Pursuing the Taiwanese Identity focusing on indigenous peoples and new immigrants and the Midi Z Selection showcasing three works by the internationally acclaimed director.
 
 According to the organizer, must-watch movies are “The Sandwich Man” (1983) by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tseng Chuang-hsiang and Wan Jen, three prominent Taiwan New Wave Cinema auteurs, as well as “The Bride who has Returned from Hell” (1965) by Hsin Chi, a Taiwanese, or Holo, language film inspired by the Gothic-romance novel “Mistress of Mellyn.”
 
Liu Kuan-ping, chief curator of TFFE, believes the pieces faithfully convey important aspects of Taiwan culture and society. They also accentuate the distinct status of the country’s films in the East Asian cultural sphere during the postwar period, he said.
 
 TFFE harnesses the power of film to deepen cultural dialogue between the people of Taiwan and the U.K.

Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)