It's movie-festival season again! Every year around this time Taipei moviegoers cram into movie theaters for the sights and sounds of their favorite form of entertainment. This is perhaps the only time of year movie fans discard mainstream Hollywood fare at local megaplexes in favor of European and Asian films -- one of the best ways to get away from the cold November weather. There's no doubt it's Golden Horse Film Festival (
This year, a bountiful harvest is expected with a strong line-up of films: There is Hou Hsiao-hsien's new film Millennium Mambo; the latest Palme d'Or winner from Italian talent Nanna Moretti; and Japanese movie master Shohei Imamura's latest offering. There is the year's timeliest film, Kandahar, about Afghanistan refugees; the most visually exquisite Japanese animations; and the icon of pop art film, Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls. All told, there are more than 120 films selected for the two-week gala. Most importantly, there will be more than a dozen filmmakers coming to Taipei to meet with their audiences.
Panorama
The Panorama section is a general collection of award-winning feature films chosen from winners or contenders at the Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals.
Young Canadian talent Denis Villeneuve's 2000 work Maelstrom is an intriguing drama wherein a woman is faced with a moral dilemma: She's met the man of her dreams, but he happens to be the son of the man she killed in a careless car accident.
French New Wave veteran Jean-Luc Godard makes a comeback with his Cannes entry In Praise of Love. The film takes three loving couples -- a young couple, a pair in mid-life, and two elderly persons -- to explore the key moments of love. Like many of Godard's works, the film received a response that, on one hand excited Godard's fans, but on the other bored those less enthusiastic.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GOLDEN HORSE FILM FESTIVAL EXECUTIVE COMMI
Also featured will be Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Kandahar. The film is a realist epic about an Afghan woman's journey returning to her land mine-riddled hometown. The film's lead actress, Nelofer Pazira, will come to Taipei to join the Q&A session following two of the film's screenings on Nov. 25 and Nov. 27.
French director Jean Jacques Beineix, known for his beautiful cinematography and romantic tragedy in acclaimed works such as Diva (1981) and Betty Blue (1986), will bring Mortal Transfer to Taipei. It tells the story of a psychoanalyst who steps into a dream-like game of murder, trying to unravel how one of his patients died. In the process he begins exploring his own feelings for and fantasies about him and his patient. The film is visually stunning, but this time Beineix's story is something of a black comedy. The director's Q&A session will be held on Nov. 24 and 26.
Also showing will be Claire Denis' controversial Trouble Everyday, which some critics see as a European woman's version of Hannibal. This French director, will discuss the film with her Taipei audience on Nov. 18.
Global image
Entrants to the Global Image section combine elements of documentary and feature filmmaking revolving around the themes of landscapes, travel experiences and people's lives. Chinese-American filmmaker Christine Choy (
Day to Day is a nice slice-of-life film by young Argentinian director Ariel Rotter. Using relaxing music and free-hand photography, the film tells the story of five young peoples' lives in Buenos Aires: a Chinese girl making her way as a delivery girl; two unemployed brothers; a cleaner who dreams of becoming an actor; and a kitchen assistant who wants work as a chef in Paris. Everyone seems to be waiting for something to happen, yet they're all unsure of what the "something" is. Director Rotter and Taiwanese actress Ali Chen will appear at the screenings on Nov. 22 and Nov. 25.
Another film dealing with Middle East issues is a documentary called Promises. Three directors follow the lives of seven children, both Israeli and Palestinian, who live in Jerusalem. Over the course of three years, the film shows how the innocence of youth quickly fades in a world charged with hatred.
Don't forget the intense drama-comedy Italian for Beginners, a Dogma 95 film by Danish filmmaker Lone Sherfig. The film won the Silver Bear at this year's Berlin Film Festival.
This year's Golden Horse also offers a Japanese New Film section, which will introduce that country's newest talent, Aoyama Shinji, with his poetic road movie Eureka. Seventy-year-old film master Shohei Immamura uses Warm Water Under the Red Bridge to praise the power of eroticism and sexual vitality.
Also screening in this category is animation talent Mamoru Oshii, who brings with him a film depicting a futuristic virtual reality world. The film received high marks at this year's Cannes film festival and is regarded as the art-house version of the film Matrix.
Andy Warhol's 1967 classic Chelsea Girls and a documentary released last year about the film's leading actress, Brigid Berlin, will also be shown. The latter is called Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story.
The festival organizers, in a last-minute effort, have also reeled in the hot French film Amelie, by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The film is now filling seats in the US and Europe and has received accolades in both places. Jeunet's talent for black comedy shows through in the film which depicts the games a cute girl plays with a mysterious stranger in Paris. The film will be screened on Nov. 28 and Nov. 30.
Notes:
What: Golden Horse Film Festival (台北金馬國際影展) When: Nov. 16 to Dec. 1
Where: Carnival CInema, 52 Omei Street (峨嵋街52號), tel (02) 2388-8282
Tickets: NT$200, tickets and festival program available through ERA Ticketing Outlets.
For more information, visit http://www.goldenhorse.org.tw. FOR YOUR INFORMATION For this year's Golden Horse, Festival News (影迷霹靂報), the official bilingual newsletter for the Golden Horse Film Festival, will be published exclusively by the Taipei Times and Liberty Times. This four-page, daily newsletter will provide information on screenings and on-going events, as well as interviews with guest filmmakers. It will be made available to moviegoers at the following outlets free of charge: Carnival Cinema, Eslite Bookstores (Taipei branches), FNAC, Blockbuster (Taipei branches) and ERA Ticketing Outlets (Taipei branches)
Taiwan, once relegated to the backwaters of international news media and viewed as a subset topic of “greater China,” is now a hot topic. Words associated with Taiwan include “invasion,” “contingency” and, on the more cheerful side, “semiconductors” and “tourism.” It is worth noting that while Taiwanese companies play important roles in the semiconductor industry, there is no such thing as a “Taiwan semiconductor” or a “Taiwan chip.” If crucial suppliers are included, the supply chain is in the thousands and spans the globe. Both of the variants of the so-called “silicon shield” are pure fantasy. There are four primary drivers
The sprawling port city of Kaohsiung seldom wins plaudits for its beauty or architectural history. That said, like any other metropolis of its size, it does have a number of strange or striking buildings. This article describes a few such curiosities, all but one of which I stumbled across by accident. BOMBPROOF HANGARS Just north of Kaohsiung International Airport, hidden among houses and small apartment buildings that look as though they were built between 15 and 30 years ago, are two mysterious bunker-like structures that date from the airport’s establishment as a Japanese base during World War II. Each is just about
Two years ago my wife and I went to Orchid Island off Taitung for a few days vacation. We were shocked to realize that for what it cost us, we could have done a bike vacation in Borneo for a week or two, or taken another trip to the Philippines. Indeed, most of the places we could have gone for that vacation in neighboring countries offer a much better experience than Taiwan at a much lower price. Hence, the recent news showing that tourist visits to Pingtung County’s Kenting, long in decline, reached a 27 year low this summer came
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
RSS