World acclaimed Taiwan director Ho Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) has brought together early works by George Lukas, Jane Campion, Krzysztof Kieslowski and Lars Von Trier among others for the Festival de Short Film du Monde, a festival of short films which opened yesterday. Over 60 local and international short films, will be screened over a period of four days at Eslite Bookstore.
The European/American Director section of the film festival gives Taiwanese audiences a chance to see rarely screened short films by prominent directors. These include George Lucas' 1967 work "Freiheit", Martin Scorsese's "The Big Shave" of the same year, Jane Campion's "Passionless Moments" and "A Girl's Own Story" from 1984 and four films by Krzysztof Kieslowski from the 1960s.
The Asian Director section features short films by Taiwan directors Ang Lee (李安), Chang Tso-chih (張作驥), Fu Chang-fung (符昌鋒) and Ho's student Hsiao Ya-chuan (蕭雅全).
This mini film fest is a first activity organized by Ho's movie Web site, Sino Movie (戲弄電影網), which launched last month. As the chairman of the film Web site, Ho said short film is a form that provides the most latitude for filmmakers to express their talent. "Sometimes you feel your inspiration exhausted, or you lose your dreams due to reality of the existing filmmaking environment. You need to go back to the original free principles of short film making," he said.
Ho also expressed his concern about Taiwan's weak film industry. "Many aspects [of life] in Taiwan have been too much sensationalized. But people lack the ability to express their ideas or stories," he said.
Another purpose for the film festival, Ho said, is to present the event as a forum for creativity, seeking new ideas and film languages. A competition "Trailer 60" will be held and screened both at the bookstore and on the Web site, incorporating 10 short trailer films by student filmmakers. The result of the competition will be decided by an Internet vote. Ho hopes the interactive nature of his Web site will help instill creativity into Taiwan's film industry. "We will have an online cinema classroom and online film promotion in the future," he said.
Ho Hsiao-hsien is preparing to shoot his new film in September, currently titled "Millenium Mambo" (千禧曼波), starring Tony Leung (梁朝偉) and Meggie Chang (張曼玉).
What: Festival de Short Film du Mond Where: Eslite Bookstore, Tunhua Branch. B2, No. 245, Tunhua S. Road, Taipei.
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