Located above a gadget emporium on Bade Road (八德路) across from the revived Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山創意園區) (formerly known as Huashan Culture Park, 華山文化園區), Taipei Stock, a renovated bank warehouse that opened in May of last year as a cultural space, hosts lectures, exhibitions, poetry readings, theatrical productions and music performances, as well as the Xinsheng Exit No. 1 Festival, a documentary showcase at which filmmakers meet audiences.
Taipei Stock has held two editions of the festival, which organizers intend to make a permanent fixture on the capital’s cinematic calendar, since its inception in October last year. The current installment comprises 12 documentary works and runs through Dec. 17 with screenings every Thursday.
As festival curator Lin Mu-tsai (林木材) aims to set up a platform to re-examine and learn from the works of the past, the lineup focuses on old rather than new productions.
“Films made 10 years ago may be long forgotten and have little chance of public exposure,” Lin said. “By showing them, we may be able to give them a new lease on life, hence the festival’s name [xinsheng (新生), which means “new life” in Chinese].”
The program’s films are categorized under two themes. Section one comprises six works that focus on regional issues or past disasters and includes V.1 (SARS病例一號), which follows the first person to contract SARS in Taiwan, and Yellow Sheep River (黃羊川), which documents village life on the Loess Plateau in China without the aid of dialogue or interviews.
The second segment screens works made mostly by female filmmakers, including the first local documentary to win an award at Japan’s Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, The Lost Kingdom (消失的王國─拱樂社), director Lee Hsiang-hsiu’s (李香秀) study on a legendary Taiwanese opera troupe that was popular in the 1970s, and 1997’s Swimming on the Highway (在高速公路上游泳).
After each screening, filmmakers will attend question-and-answer sessions to discuss their work with audiences.
New entries are welcome all year round. To make a submission, call (02) 2396-9092 or visit www.wretch.cc/blog/newlife001.
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