All eyes on Taiwan's famous films

Following the success of the Northern European Film Festival and the Animation Film Festival at SPOT -- the only art house cinema in Taiwan -- another showcase series of non-mainstream films takes place this weekend.

Eyes On the Wind of Taiwan Films (這個夏天刮"台"風) features 30 top Taiwanese films made over the past 10 years.

The two-week event will firstly be hosted by SPOT, and then the Hsinchu Municipal Image Museum (新竹市立影像博物館) from July 30, and then at Kaohsiung City Film Library (高雄市電影圖書館). To further encourage cinema-goers, Eyes on The Wind of Taiwan Films also has a low-price policy, with ticket prices ranging from free entrance to NT$150.

Eyes On the Wind of Taiwan Films is the third instalment of POP Cinema [after the Northern European Film Festival and the Animation Film Festival] and is an attempt to bring art house films to the people. It is not, however, just a chance for recognized filmmakers to show their works again.

A new documentary, Actors on Acting will open the festival. The film interviews more than 20 Taiwanese actors about their acting careers and performance styles.

Must-see films include Tsai Ming-liang's (蔡明亮) Berlin Silver Bear winner The River (河流); A Chance to Die (想死趁現在), which features a gangland fight between Japanese and Taiwanese mafia, by director Chen Yi-wen (陳以文); Ah Chung (忠仔), the first and most vigorous of Chang Tso-chi's (張作驥) films, about teenagers' religious activities in Eight Generals performance groups; and Hou Hsiao-hsien's (侯孝賢) Millennium Mambo (千禧曼波), starring Shu Qi (舒淇) .

The festival will also showcase Double Vision (雙瞳), Taiwan's only film in the last five years to reach NT$50 million at the box office, and also Better Than Sex (愛情靈藥), a refreshing comedy which was also a box office winner in 2001.

For more program information, go to http://www.twfilm.org or SPOT website http://www.spot.org.tw. Telephone (02) 2511 7786.