This year’s incarnation of the biennial Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival (台灣國際民族誌影展) has been subtitled “suffering and rebirth.” The festival presents a selection of films that inhabit an oft-neglected region of the cinematic landscape. It is the first festival of its type in Asia and has become an important forum for documentary films about minority peoples and disadvantaged social groups. There works by directors who are primarily filmmakers, such as Taiwan’s Lungnan Isak Fangas, whose On the Road — Behind the Scenes (很久沒有敬我了你 ─ 紀錄片導演版) is a greatly expanded director’s cut of his film about internationally acclaimed Taiwanese conductor Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬) and his search for his Aboriginal roots. The festival lineup also includes films by Robert Lemelson, a research anthropologist at UCLA who studies the relationship of culture to such disorders as OCD and Tourette’s syndrome. Extensive English-language information about the films and directors, as well as film schedules, can be found at the festival Web site: www.tieff.sinica.edu.tw. The festival takes place from next Friday to Oct. 11, with all screenings at the Wonderful Theater (台北真善美劇院), 7F, 116 Hanzhong St, Taipei City (台北市漢中街116號7樓). Tickets are NT$130 per screening, or NT$1,800 for a festival pass. Pre-ordering through tickets.books.com.tw offers a discount price of NT$100 per screening, or NT$1,500 for a festival pass.
Photo courtesy of TIEFF
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