In an effort to facilitate a greater understanding of the Visegrad Four, an alliance of the Central European states of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, the quartet’s trade offices in Taipei have teamed up with Infine Art and Culture Exchange (上苑文化藝術有限公司) for the second time to organize the V4 Central European Film Festival (V4中歐電影節). Running until July 19, the festival is screening eight feature films in Taipei and beyond, to places that don’t often see non-Hollywood productions.
Among the selected works, The Witness is a 1969 political satire on the post-World War II communist regime in Hungary. Directed by Peter Bacso, the film was banned for criticizing the authorities and wasn’t released until 1979.
Today’s rampant capitalism and consumerism in Poland can be seen through a single mother’s eyes in Women’s Day (2012), which centers on a supermarket employee who realizes that the price she is paying to move her and her teenage daughter’s lives up the social ladder is simply too high.
Photo Courtesy of Infine Art and Culture Exchange
From Slovakia, Mosquitoes’ Tango (2009) is a comedy about two emigrants’ trip back to Bratislava gone wrong. Meanwhile, Snowboarders (2004) is a teen comedy that looks at the millennial generation in the Czech Republic.
All films are screened with Chinese and English subtitles; admission is free. The screenings take place in more than 20 venues, including university auditoriums, local cultural centers and independent bookstores, located in 12 cities and counties: Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Yunlin, Chaiyi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Yilan and Taitung.
Screening information and venue locations are available at the event’s bilingual Web site at www.teff.tw.
Photo Courtesy of Infine Art and Culture Exchange
Photo Courtesy of Infine Art and Culture Exchange
Photo Courtesy of Infine Art and Culture Exchange
Photo Courtesy of Infine Art and Culture Exchange
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