It's movie-festival season again! Every year around this time Taipei moviegoers cram into movie theaters for the sights and sounds of their favorite form of entertainment. This is perhaps the only time of year movie fans discard mainstream Hollywood fare at local megaplexes in favor of European and Asian films -- one of the best ways to get away from the cold November weather. There's no doubt it's Golden Horse Film Festival (
This year, a bountiful harvest is expected with a strong line-up of films: There is Hou Hsiao-hsien's new film Millennium Mambo; the latest Palme d'Or winner from Italian talent Nanna Moretti; and Japanese movie master Shohei Imamura's latest offering. There is the year's timeliest film, Kandahar, about Afghanistan refugees; the most visually exquisite Japanese animations; and the icon of pop art film, Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls. All told, there are more than 120 films selected for the two-week gala. Most importantly, there will be more than a dozen filmmakers coming to Taipei to meet with their audiences.
Panorama
The Panorama section is a general collection of award-winning feature films chosen from winners or contenders at the Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals.
Young Canadian talent Denis Villeneuve's 2000 work Maelstrom is an intriguing drama wherein a woman is faced with a moral dilemma: She's met the man of her dreams, but he happens to be the son of the man she killed in a careless car accident.
French New Wave veteran Jean-Luc Godard makes a comeback with his Cannes entry In Praise of Love. The film takes three loving couples -- a young couple, a pair in mid-life, and two elderly persons -- to explore the key moments of love. Like many of Godard's works, the film received a response that, on one hand excited Godard's fans, but on the other bored those less enthusiastic.
Also featured will be Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Kandahar. The film is a realist epic about an Afghan woman's journey returning to her land mine-riddled hometown. The film's lead actress, Nelofer Pazira, will come to Taipei to join the Q&A session following two of the film's screenings on Nov. 25 and Nov. 27.
French director Jean Jacques Beineix, known for his beautiful cinematography and romantic tragedy in acclaimed works such as Diva (1981) and Betty Blue (1986), will bring Mortal Transfer to Taipei. It tells the story of a psychoanalyst who steps into a dream-like game of murder, trying to unravel how one of his patients died. In the process he begins exploring his own feelings for and fantasies about him and his patient. The film is visually stunning, but this time Beineix's story is something of a black comedy. The director's Q&A session will be held on Nov. 24 and 26.
Also showing will be Claire Denis' controversial Trouble Everyday, which some critics see as a European woman's version of Hannibal. This French director, will discuss the film with her Taipei audience on Nov. 18.
Global image
Entrants to the Global Image section combine elements of documentary and feature filmmaking revolving around the themes of landscapes, travel experiences and people's lives. Chinese-American filmmaker Christine Choy (
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