Los Angeles–With the support from the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan, the second iteration of Taiwan Biennial Film Festival launched its grand opening in Hammer Museum on October 18th followed by a film screening of “Heavy Craving.” The festival is hosted by Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles in partnership with the UCLA Film &Television Archive. The participation of distinguished guests in the opening night included Ambassador Abraham Chu, Director-General of Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Los Angeles, Emmy Yang, director of Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles, Sharon Farb, associate university librarian for Special Collections and International Collaborations, UCLA Library, curators Paul Malcolm and Brian Hu, director Hsieh Pei-Ju of “Heavy Craving,” and Aileen Li, the keynote speaker of “Focus on Taiwan” forum as well as producer of “Detention” (2019) that recently nominated for 12 Golden Horse Awards. “This past May, Taiwan has become the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. The festival reveals that all Taiwanese directors are outstanding and creative regardless of gender. Through the festival, we announced to the world Taiwan’s commitment to LGBTQ rights,” said Ambassador Abraham Chu.
Diversity and gender equity on screen and behind the camera emerge as the themes of this year’s festival, along with continuing engagement with questions of political, cultural and personal identity, in an attempt to highlight Taiwan as a LQBTQ friendly country and its inclusiveness and open-mindedness on gender diversity and equality related issues. The festival, starting from October 18th to October 28th, will feature 18 cinematic works, including fictional narratives and documentaries, newly restored classics, along with short and experimental works. The opening film “Heavy Craving” was the winner of the Best New Talent and the Audience Choice Award earlier this year in Taipei Film Festival, and was nominated for Best New Performer of the Golden Horse Awards 2019. Being a North American premiere, the storyline focuses on the weight loss journey of a chubby girl who works as a chef in a preschool. This film focuses on a global issue of obesity and weight loss, and further discusses how gender awareness defines physical identity. During the post-screening QA discussion, the audience asked director Hsieh Pei-ju many questions in hunger for deeper story about the film.
Moreover, a “Focus on Taiwan” forum was held in the afternoon of October 19th starting with a special keynote dialogue by Aileen Li and Michael Berry. Aileen Li is executive producer/producer of Filmagic Pictures Co. Her most recent film production Detention (2019) was recently nominated for 12 Golden Horse Awards. Michael Berry is Professor of Contemporary Chinese Cultural Studies and Director of the Center for Chinese Studies at UCLA. Their dialogue explored the turning phases experienced by Taiwanese films and the responsive strategies for film production. The keynote dialogue was followed by a panel moderated by the curator Brian Hu interviewing Desmond Yang (director of international sales and distribution of MandarinVision) and Yalin Chi (specialist in the distribution of Chinese language films in the US and Canada) with the topic exploring marketing Taiwanese cinema beyond Taiwan. Another panel moderated by Lindy Leong, the senior film programmer at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, focused on gender diversity in the Taiwan Film Industry, and was joined by three female panelists including Taiwanese director Mei-Juin Chen, Wei-San Hsu (professional film scoring composer and songwriter), and Roxy Shih (Taiwanese-American producer and director). The forum, followed by a film screening of “Three Makes a Whole” directed by Zero Chou, inspired the audience to a large extent by catalyzing their reflection on Taiwanese films.
Besides “Heavy Craving,” the festival screening line-up includes “Three Makes a Whole,” an adapted story based on Chiung Yao’s novel of threesome in a romance relationship; “The Bold, The Corrupt and The Beautiful,” about three females across three generations struggling to make a living through royal powers; “Missing Johnny,” a common type of isolation, softness and feeling of lost that belongs to people who live in Taipei; “Father to Son” focuses on the relationship between a father and his son; “Ten Years Taiwan” is combined with five different styles of films that were made separately by five directors; “The Chief of Yancheng District,” a documentary that describes the golden times of Yancheng; “Our Youth in Taiwan” is a documentary that demonstrates the Sunflower Student Movement protest; “The Wild Goose On The Wing” is a classic directed by Liu Li-li in 1979, starring Brigitte Lin and Chin Han; “Raining in the Mountain,” a Martial Art action movie in 1979; “Richard Chen: Early Works” combines director Richard Chen’s student production work when he was studying in UCLA; “The Glamorous Boys of Tang” is a supplementary explanation and homage from Artist Su Hui-Yu to a well-known poet and screenwriter Chui Kang-Chien, a director of the same name movie back in 1985; “Last Year When the Train Passed By” presents letter-from-home images from two different spacetime; “Tiptoe” describes a sister-brother sibling relationship, especially on their mental state and change after their mother left; “Grandpa” represents a little boy’s fear, curiosity, sadness and confusion when he attends his grandpa’s funeral. Both director Hsieh Pei-Ju of “Heavy Craving” and director Huang Xi of “Missing Johnny” will attend post-screening QA discussion.
Started from 2017, the second iteration of Taiwan Biennial Film Festival consists of multiple contents with film screenings across half a century. “This festival is an exclusive event mainly focusing on Taiwanese films and showcasing the most Taiwanese films in the west coast of the US. Our goal is not only to make the festival as an international platform for showcasing different aspects of Taiwanese culture, but also a network and a bridge for film industries between Taiwan and the US.,” said Emmy Yang. There are three screening venues which include Billy Wilder Theater at Hammer Museum, Downtown Independent Theatre and James Bridges Theater at UCLA.
For more information regarding the second iteration of Taiwan Biennial Film Festival, ticketing and screening venues, please visit https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2019/taiwan-biennial-film-festival.
Press Contact:
Vivian Wang
Cultural Officer
Tel: (213) 403-0168#103
Email: vivianpink1206@moc.gov.tw
