Taipei, April 20 (CNA) The film "Zhuo Ren Mi Mi (Nina Wu)" (灼人祕密) by Taiwanese indie film director Midi Z (趙德胤) has been nominated for the 72nd Cannes Film Festival in France, which will be held May 14-25, according to the event website.
"Zhuo Ren Mi Mi," a psychological thriller based on the screenplay by actress Wu Ke-xi (吳可熙) and staring Wu, Vivian Sung (宋芸樺) and Kimi Hsia (夏于喬), was shortlisted in the Un Certain Regard category of the festival, the website announced on Thursday. "Tears bursting out immediately, OMG #cannes !!!" was Wu's immediate reaction to the nomination as she shared her excitement on Facebook Thursday.
Un Certain Regard, literally meaning "a certain glance," is a section of the festival's selection that celebrates films with various visions and styles telling their stories in non-traditional ways. "Zhuo Ren Mi Mi" was inspired by the 2017 Harvey Weinstein scandal, involving allegations of sexual harassment against the film mogul, and the subsequent #MeToo movement that sprang up against sexual harassment and sexual assault, Wu wrote on Facebook.
The film portrays "an aspiring actress named Nina, who is "humiliated by a director, abandoned by her agent and hampered by an assistant," the American entertainment website Variety said. In the story, Nina is confronted with "a series of mysterious incidents which seem to be connected to another actress whom she beat to a film role," according to the Variety magazine article published in 2018 when Midi Z started the post-production of the movie.
"Nina's story is more than an actress's experience of working in the film industry, but broadly reflects many difficult situations that countless women face in their work environment," Z said in an interview with film magazine Screen International. Previously, "Zhuo Ren Mi Mi" had won the 2019 Excellent Screenplay Award, hosted by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture to honor talented screenwriters in the country's film industry.
"Zhuo Ren Mi Mi" is Z's first feature made in Taiwan after the production of "Return to Burma," "Road to Mandalay" and "14 Apples." Z, whose real name is Chao Te-yin, was born in Myanmar but renounced his Burmese citizenship and took Taiwanese nationality instead. Z's 2016 film "The Road To Mandalay," about two illegal Burmese workers in Thailand, won the Fedeora Award for Best Film at the 73rd Venice Film Festival.
Reference at: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aall/201904200007.aspx
