1. Best Worst Movie
In 1989, an Italian filmmaker and a group of amateur actors in Utah put together what was later crowned the worst film of all time by imdb.com: Troll 2. Twenty years later, the horror flick’s child star, Michael Stephenson, made Best Worst Movie, a hilarious documentary that pays homage to the people who made Troll 2, which tells the tale of a family hunted by vegetarian goblins, and those who love watching it.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KAOHSIUNG FILM FESTIVAL
2. Daisies
PHOTO COURTESY OF KAOHSIUNG FILM FESTIVAL
Screened in the Love and Eros section, Daisies is a 1966 classic by Vera Chytilova, a leading figure of 1960s Czech New Wave cinema. American film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum calls the surrealistic comedy about two young women revolting against an oppressive society “one of the most exhilarating stylistic and psychedelic eruptions of the 60s.”
3. Dear Galileo
Photo courtesy of Kaohsiung Film Festival
Nithiwat Tharatorn from Thailand is noted for his prowess at making simple stories entertainingly attractive and appealing. A good example is Dear Galileo, a well-scripted adventure about two Thai girls’ journey through Europe. Tharatorn will attend the festival for panel discussions and question-and-answer sessions.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KAOHSIUNG FILM FESTIVAL
4. My Only Sunshine
Life in Istanbul is poetically stark and harsh in My Only Sunshine, which tells the story of a 14-year-old girl who lives in a hut near the Bosphorus Strait together with her bedridden grandfather and her small-time smuggler father. As one of the featured directors at the festival, Reha Erdem will be in Kaohsiung for panel discussions and question-and-answer sessions.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KAOHSIUNG FILM FESTIVAL
5. RoboGeisha
Can geishas be transformed into cyborg assassins? RoboGeisha, a Japanese B movie directed by Noboru Iguchi, who has built a career in making adult videos and gore flicks, answers that little conundrum.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KAOHSIUNG FILM FESTIVAL
6. The Red Eagle
PHOTO COURTESY OF KAOHSIUNG FILM FESTIVAL
The Red Eagle is the latest incarnation of Thailand’s favorite superhero, the Red Eagle, who emerged as a tough crime fighter in the 1960s and enjoyed great popularity before actor Mitr Chaibancha, who played the superhero, fell to his death from a helicopter while filming a sequel of the Red Eagle series in 1970. Forty years later, the Red Eagle has been updated as the Thai version of the Dark Knight who battles corrupt politicians.
7. Vampires
Photo courtesy of Kaohsiung Film Festival
Vampires is a mockumentary about a family of vampires forced from Belgium into exile in Quebec.
8. Will Not Stop There
Will Not Stop There tells an unusual love story between a Croatian war veteran and a prostitute and porn star who plays Little Red Riding Hood in a pornographic version of the fairy tale.
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