The first Taiwan Film Festival UK 2019 will be held in London from April 3rd to 14th, and will showcase 17 films and short films directed by Taiwanese established and emerging directors at Tate Modern in London and UK's leading art theater, Curzon, including well-known martial arts film director King Hu and internationally renowned director Tsai Ming-Liang. Tsai Ming-Liang and other Taiwan important filmmakers will be invited to attend the opening ceremony.
Tsai Ming-Liang (1957-)'s film style is unique in Taiwanese film industry. His films have won numerous international awards such as the Leone d’ oro of Venice Film Festival, Internationale filmfestpiele Berlin, Festival de Cannes and Golden Horse Award. In 2004, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by the French Ministry of Culture. Three of the five Tsai directed films released at the Tate Modern are the premiere of the UK, there are "Afternoon", the short film "The Skywalk Is Gone"," No No Sleep " and "Autumn Days", and "Your Face + Light". Among them, "Your Face + Light" and "Goodbye Dragon Inn" will have Q&A session with the director after the show. "The Deserted" is the first time to combine the highest specification of VR technology to show the energy and strength of Taiwanese film creation to international audiences. In addition, Tsai will also hold a symposium "Tsai Ming-Liang: Master Class" at the Tate Modern on April 7th, which will talk about his unique film aesthetics, scene installation and VR filming experience.
The opening film to be released in Curzon will be the restored version of the classic wuxia film "Dragon Inn" directed by King Hu (1932-1997). Hu was the pioneer in the new swordsplay film in Hong Kong and Taiwan. He incorporated Chinese traditional opera elements into his film and became one of the earliest Chinese directors to gain worldwide reputation with his original new swordsplay film style. His works are highly regarded by filmmakers, and later generations such as Ang Lee, Ann Hui, and Hou Hsiao-Hsien have all been influenced by his films. The film "Dragon Inn", which was produced in 1967, is one of the greatest swordsplay films in the history of the film, inspired countless martial arts filmmakers. The inspiration of award-winning film "Goodbye Dragon Inn" directed by Tsai Ming-Liang came from this classical swordsplay film.
Other films shown in Curzon are Taiwan's outstanding films, including four nominations for the 53rd Golden Horse Awards, the famous thriller " The Tag-Along " directed by the new director Cheng Wei-Hao; Produced by Taiwan's established documentary director Yang Li-Chou, the documentary " Father " records the process of Taiwan's late puppet master LiTien-lu's family inheriting the puppet show; Taiwan emerging female director Chen Singing directed " The Walker " and " God Man Dog ", which won the 4 nominations in 44th Golden Horse Award for best screenwriter, best editing and best art; “Small Talk”, directed by Huang Hui-Chen in 2017, won the Teddy Award in Berlin International Film Festival and the Best Film of the 17th Chinese Film Media Awards; The warm family film “Long Time No Sea”directed by Heather Tsui in 2018, won the 55th Golden Horse Award for Best New The actor award, as well as the 55th Golden Horse Award best animated feature film "On The Happpiness Road", a 2D hand-drawn animated film written and directed by Sung Hsin-Yin. The closing film shows a short film of the Taiwan Indigeneous movement started from late 1980s when martial law ended till present. Musician Panai Kusui will also bring the 85th performance of "Panai Kusui Tsunami Tour 100" to London and sing live.
The first Taiwan Film Festival UK 2019 was curated by Aephie Chen, a filmmaker who has lived in London for many years, and supported by the Taiwan Ministry of Culture. The Tate Modern, the art cinema and filmmakers Curzon, Film Taiwan, Art Cinema, Birds Eye View and Reclaim the Frame are the partners to present this festival. The motivation for the Taiwan Film Festival UK 2019 came from the curator Aephie Chen. She thinks that the impression of Taiwanese movies in Europe has always stayed in Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-Hsien and others, and there is a gap in the perception of today’s Taiwanese films. She hopes to introduce Taiwanese films to Europe through long-term planning. In March of this year, she brought Taiwanese films to Iceland, hosted the first Taiwan Film Festival Iceland 2019 and screened a series of films directed by Huang Hsin-Yao and Wei Te-Sheng, and received a warm response.
Top Image: The Walker (行者), directed by Chen Singing, 2014, 147 min, Taiwan © Copyright FilmTaiwan.org
Bottom Image: Masterclass with Tsai Ming-Liang © Copyright FilmTaiwan.org
