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The 4th Taiwan International Documentary Festival: And now for documentaries

By Yu Sen-lun
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Dec 11, 2004, Page 13

The Train Stop. PHOTO COURTESY OF TIDF

The 4th Taiwan International Documentary Festival (台灣國際紀錄片雙年展) begins today and runs until Dec. 17, screening a slate of 122 films from around the world.

For film-goers, the festival will be a rich experience, with a diverse selection of films and the inclusion for almost each of the competition screenings of a question and answer session with the filmmakers. What's more, tickets cost only NT$10 per screening.

The program for the 122 films has been divided into two major categories: the competition section and the exhibition section. This year, the 70 films in competition were selected from among 1,000 entries, according to Wang Pai-zhang (王派彰), the festival's program director.

Special to this year's selection of films is the significantly high number of films that look at Israeli-Palestinian relations, as well as the number of controversial and unconventional films that challenge pre-set ideas about documentary.

Dying at Grace. PHOTO COURTESY OF TIDF

"We try to incorporate films from the two extremes of the documentary spectrum -- the traditional documentaries and the innovative ones, in terms of film styles," Wang said.

In the section about Israeli-Palestinian relations, there is the selection of 10 films, six of them by Israeli filmmakers and four by Palestinians. Amos Gitai, the Israel-based filmmaker who started filming Israel-Palestine issues in 1980, chooses to look at the problem by presenting the view of the other side -- the views and lives of Palestinian residents. The section will showcase six of this frequent award winner's films.

From the East. PHOTO COURTESY OF TIDF

There are also films about fierce battles and angry accusations against the Israeli army. Jenin ... Jenin is a shocking film about the April, 2002, Israeli advance into the Palestinian city of Jenin. The operation ended with Jenin flattened and scores of Palestinians dead.

"The reason we showcase more films about Israel-Palestine relations is that we find it similar to cross-strait relations. We hope that, by showing the films, people can realize the wall or border in their hearts that is created if they do not diminish hatred toward each other," Wang said.

Caracoles: New Paths of Resistance. PHOTO COURTESY OF TIDF

"The Right to Intervene" section of the festival will show the most conventional documentary styles, that is, a realistic style and a mission to tell the truth, to communicate a message or change society. Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, a documentary about the writer and philosopher, is, so far, the most popular film in this section. All tickets are sold out for the film, but there may be additional screenings to be announced.

Memorandum on Happiness. PHOTO COURTESY OF TIDF

In this section there is also the film Control Room, which documents what happened in the control room of al-Jazeera news network in the lead-up to and during the US-led invasion of Iraq last year.

"Death, Be Not Proud" is a section where documentary makers focus their concerns on the very private and universal experience of death. The movies in the section look squarely at taboos and are definitely very controversial. There is a film titled Modesty and Shame by writer/filmmaker Herve Buibert filmed a few weeks before his death of AIDS. Another film, by Naomi Kawasa titled Letter From a Yellow Cherry Blossom, has the director filming her best friend at his deathbed. Torn Skin looks not at human death but that of sharks through the eyes of the fishermen who catch the fish.

A section named "Documentary in Trance" will likely challenge ideas about movie watching. The earliest film ever made -- by Lumiere Brothers in the 19th century -- is, in a way, a documentary, Wang said. The silent film is a purely visual experience as it tries to convey a message without trying to change others' views.

Fourteen of the 15 films selected in the "Documentary in Trance" section are silent films, but, without the interruption of dialogue, they rely on the beauty of the cinematography and the flow of the images. Recommended films in this category are Landscape, a film about people's lives by a bus stop in a small town in Russia, Plages, about New Year's Eve on Copacabana beach in Brazil, and The Taste of Koumiz, about Khirgiz nomads forced to join collective farms in the 1930s.

Six films in the program will have outdoor screenings at Huashan Creative Arts and Industry Center. Among these, the film 1/0 Guerre Chronique is unique for dividing the screen in two, with one side featuring street scenes from Baghdad and the other showing US President George W. Bush in parallel images that precede the impending violence of the war in Iraq. The screening of the movie will be accompanied by performances by DJs and Chinese reed horn music.

Film Notes:
What: The 4th Taiwan International Documentary Festival
When: Today to Dec. 17
Where:
Showtime Cinema (欣欣晶華影城) 247 Linsen N Rd, Taipei (臺北市林森北路247號)
Spot-Taipei Film House (光點台北) 18 Zhongshan N Rd, Sec 2, Taipei (台北市中山北路二段18號)
Shih-ming Hall of Taiwan Cement Building(台泥大樓士敏聽) 113 Zhongshan N Rd, Sec 2, Taipei (台北市中山北路二段113號)
Huashan Creative Arts and Industry Center (華山文化園區), for outdoor screenings only, 1 Bade Rd, Sec 1, Taipei (臺北市八德路1段1號)
Ticket: NT$10, available at Spot-Taipei Film House.
On the web: www.tidf.org.tw

第四屆台灣國際紀錄片雙年展

台灣國際紀錄片雙年展創始於一九九八年，今年的影展計有來自四十多國的一百二十二部作品，獲邀前來參展。

近三十年來，紀錄片所發展出來的多元面貌，無論是在各種影像美學上的開拓，甚至嘗試發展出劇情紀錄片、表演紀錄片、實驗紀錄片等不同的類型，在在促使人們重新檢視紀錄影片與真實之間的關係，期待它們能不斷琢磨出對社會的批判力。

策展人王派彰表示，這次的雙年展嘗試包納兩種截然不同的紀錄片領域，從影片的風格來說，一類屬於傳統的，另一類則屬於創新的紀錄片。

近年來紀錄片在國內的蓬勃發展相當令人興奮，紀錄片作品的產量顯著增加，品質方面日益精緻，紀錄片在電影的領域中蔚然成風，未來的榮景指日可待。
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