The Seventh Taipei Film Festival will open tomorrow with a focus on Russian films, the organizers have said.
Some 138 films will be screened during the Taipei Film Festival, from June 25 to July 9, with one-third of them being Russian films.
The film festival will pay tribute to Russian director Alexandre Sukorov by showing 14 of his films. Sokurov and producers from Lenfilm, the Russian studio founded by the former Soviet Union, have been invited to attend the Taipei Film
Festival.
The Taipei Film Festival, launched by the Taipei City Government, used to be unknown outside Taiwan because only Taiwanese films were allowed to compete for awards. Foreign films could only take part in the exhibition
category.
"To expand its influence, we have set up the Young Director Award in this year's Taipei Film Festival with a US$20,000 cash prize. We hope to turn the Taipei Film Festival into an influential Asian film festival like the Tokyo International Film Festival or the Pusan International Film Festival," organizers said.
Fourteen films from 13 countries have been nominated for the Best Young Director Award,
They are: Changing Destiny (Italy), Dalecarlians (Sweden/Denmark), Fall ... In Love (Taiwan), Harvest Time (Russia), Hawaii, Oslo (Norway), In My Father's Den (New Zealand), Install (Japan), The Last Level (or Sheng Dian, China), Love's Lone Flower (Taiwan), Off Beat (Germany/France), The Other Side of the Street (Brazil), The Scarlet Letter (South Korea), They Came Back (France) and Transamerica (US).
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