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Festival opens with Hou movie

The seventh Taipei Film Festival kicked off yesterday at the Chungshan Hall in downtown Taipei, with the premiere of Three Times, a film directed by world-acclaimed Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢).

The venue was very "Russian" yesterday, with a series of live dance and music performances at the Chungshan Hall square as part of the festival's "City-Vision" section, which focuses this year on two Russian cities with rich cultural traditions and complex histories -- Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

The festival has another new section -- the New Talent Competition -- aimed at encouraging young and talented filmmakers. A total of 14 films from around the world have been nominated and the winner will be awarded NT$650,000 (US$20,700) at a presentation slated for July 1, according to the organizer.

The competition jury is made up of Wang Toon (王童), Clara Law (羅卓瑤), Fruit Chan (陳果), Lin Cheng-shen (林正盛) and Jia Zhanke (賈樟柯), directors from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. A total of 138 international and local films will be screened in the two-week festival.

The festival's general director, Edmond Wong, said that as of Friday, around NT$4.5 million had been taken in advanced ticket sales, surpassing the total box office record of last year's film fair.

The festival will close July 9 after an award presentation ceremony for the annual "Taipei Film Award" and "Taipei Theme Award."

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