Even though the late Portuguese director made only seven films in his entire life, Joao Cesar Monteiro made himself an important figure in the world cinema, and has been hailed as one of the most original and provocative filmmakers of all time.
Monteiro performed in all his works, usually as the main character. Some said his real self was indistinguishable from his on-screen persona, Joao de Deus (meaning "of God" in Portuguese), a character in his 1999 work The Spousals of God. In the film, Joao de Deus is visited by an envoy of God and embarks on a surrealist voyage through life.
The Taiwan festival will showcase four of his films, including Venice Film Festival winners Recollections of the Yellow House, God's Comedy and his last work, Come and Go, completed in 2003 right before his death.
The selected movies in the Taiwanese Literature: Women Image program are adapted from successful literary works by female novelists. Osmanthus Alley (桂花巷) is adapted from the book of the same title written by Hsiao Li-hung (蕭麗紅), and Kuei-Mei, A Woman (我這樣過了一生) is adapted from the novel Home of Xia Fei (霞飛之家) by Hsiao Sa (蕭颯). All of the films depict the lives and struggles of women against a repressive male-dominated society and are set amid turbulent social changes.
The closing film is Autumn Tempest (落山風), directed by veteran female filmmaker Huang Yu-shan (黃玉珊). As a pioneering Taiwanese female artist, Huang has dedicated herself to organizing women's film festivals and making films, documentaries and TV series. All of her works explore the issues of gender inequality, female desire and a woman's perception of her body.
In addition to the screenings, the festival also invites the audience to participate in panel discussions with the filmmaker Huang Yu-shan (黃玉珊), film critic Lee Tayi (李達義), female author Yang Nan-quian (楊南倩) and actress Lu Yi-jing (陸奕靜). Themes for discussion will include the issue of female figures represented in movies made by male and female directors, the works by Angelopulos and Monteiro, and the intimate relationship between literature and cinema.
The upcoming screenings series for POP Cinema this year is to include a selection of Latin American independent films and a mini-festival of movies adapted from the literary works of Russian masters Mikhail Sholokhov and Leo Tolstoy.
To further encourage moviegoers, POP cinema has a low-price policy, with ticket prices ranging from free to NT$150. For more program information, visit www.twfilm.org/southeurope or call SPOT at (02)2511 7786.
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