Although its a party/arts event at Huashan organized by lao-wai, this is a far cry from the "foreigner head-shaking party" that tabloids enjoy getting steamed up about. It is, in fact, the Urban Nomad Film Festival (城市游牧影展), now back at Huashan for the second year.
This time round, a more complete selection of films will be shown, and these will be more focused on a single theme. In total, there will be 25 films (experimental, shorts, documentaries and mockumentaries) screening over two days.
PHOTO COURTESY OF URBAN NOMAD
The Friday event begins with three experimental shorts. Tony Wu (吳俊輝), from Taiwan, a frequent participant in international short film or experimental film festivals, will present his latest work Making Maps (製造地圖). Wu's experimental style makes use of found footage, animated images and optical printing.
In Making Maps, he uses these methods to talk about pornography, specifically blood and semen. For Wu, the pornographic images he weaves through this 21-minutes is a way of creating a physical and psychological map of human beings.
Another Taiwan entry is Lin Hongjohnn's (林宏璋) film about Taiwan's UFO cult. Lin, as the nephew of UFO cult leader, Chen Heng-ming, has unique access to the true believers.
The main event on Saturday is the Taiwan premiere of an underground film Redneck Vampire, a mockumentary by Mike Anderson. In the film, Anderson tracks down a man in central Alabama, who claims to be a redneck vampire, and explores his life of drugs, sex and immortality. The film proved a big hit on the Internet with its hilarious play on racial and class stereotypes. Even Ann Rice, the author of Interview with the Vampire, has signed on at the film's Web site.
The mockumentary is followed by the rockumentary session of three film. Dark Funeral, a film documenting the Taiwan performance of a Swedish black metal band. It explores their views on satanic cults and church burning. The film was previously selected for the 2002 New York Underground Film Festival.
For film-loving people, Urban Nomad will be an event to spot some innovative or odd creations of independent filmmaking. And for those who just want to chill out, there will be live music today and tomorrow nights, accompanied by film footage of surfing, punk rock concerts and a remix of Hitchcock's classic film Psycho.
The Urban Nomad Film Festival will run tonight and tomorrow at the Huashan Arts District (華山藝文特區) starting at 8pm. Huashan is located at 1 Pateh Rd., Sec. 1,Taipei (台北市八德路一段1號). Tickets are NT$200 for one day or NT$300 for both days. Tickets available at the door.
Before the recall election drowned out other news, CNN last month became the latest in a long line of media organs to report on abuses of migrant workers in Taiwan’s fishing fleet. After a brief flare of interest, the news media moved on. The migrant worker issues, however, did not. CNN’s stinging title, “Taiwan is held up as a bastion of liberal values. But migrant workers report abuse, injury and death in its fishing industry,” was widely quoted, including by the Fisheries Agency in its response. It obviously hurt. The Fisheries Agency was not slow to convey a classic government
Not long into Mistress Dispeller, a quietly jaw-dropping new documentary from director Elizabeth Lo, the film’s eponymous character lays out her thesis for ridding marriages of troublesome extra lovers. “When someone becomes a mistress,” she says, “it’s because they feel they don’t deserve complete love. She’s the one who needs our help the most.” Wang Zhenxi, a mistress dispeller based in north-central China’s Henan province, is one of a growing number of self-styled professionals who earn a living by intervening in people’s marriages — to “dispel” them of intruders. “I was looking for a love story set in China,” says Lo,
It was on his honeymoon in Kuala Lumpur, looking out of his hotel window at the silvery points of the world’s tallest twin skyscrapers, that Frank decided it was time to become taller. He had recently confessed to his new wife how much his height had bothered him since he was a teenager. As a man dedicated to self-improvement, Frank wanted to take action. He picked up the phone, called a clinic in Turkey that specializes in leg lengthening surgery — and made a booking. “I had a lot of second thoughts — at the end of the day, someone’s going
In the next few months tough decisions will need to be made by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and their pan-blue allies in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It will reveal just how real their alliance is with actual power at stake. Party founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) faced these tough questions, which we explored in part one of this series, “Ko Wen-je, the KMT’s prickly ally,” (Aug. 16, page 12). Ko was open to cooperation, but on his terms. He openly fretted about being “swallowed up” by the KMT, and was keenly aware of the experience of the People’s First Party