Alice Farrer says she couldn’t forget the “authentic” cinematography in Good Luck! Boy (加油! 男孩), a film that depicts daily life in Taiwan’s countryside through the eyes of a passionate musician. The film was one of six being shown at the eighth annual Vancouver Taiwanese Film Festival (溫哥華台灣電影節).
For Farrer, it offered a window into Taiwanese culture — a sentiment echoed by Cole Dickson, who had previously taught at a rural school in Taiwan.
“It was exactly what I experienced as a teacher,” Dickson said referring to Good Luck! Boy.
Photo: TT
Dickson says that using film was an excellent way to bridge the gap between Taiwanese culture and Canadians.
With the goal of showcasing Taiwanese acting talents and filmmakers to a wider audience, the student-run University of British Columbia Literature Etc club organized, for the eighth time, the film festival last weekend at the posh Vancity Theatre.
The weekend festival, which took place at the end of last month, drew a large audience of cinemagoers, among whom were representatives of the Canadian government.
Photo: Jenny Peng
William Chuang (莊恒盛), director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver, says that film is an ideal way to impart Taiwanese culture to a foreign audience.
Overcoming Challenges
Of the over 100 movies produced in Taiwan last year, six were chosen based on their connectedness to this year’s theme: Breakthrough — a reference to the challenges people face and overcome in their daily life.
For student organizers, the theme reflected their own struggles in trying to put the festival together.
Jill Huang (黃子恬), the club’s president, says that planning the festival over the past six months meant giving up Friday night parties and weekend downtime, not to mention a full-time student workload.
“Every time I felt frustrated and overwhelmed, this year’s theme has been an encouragement because I would tell myself ‘I must break through these challenges’ I need to break my own bounds of not limiting how much I can do,” Huang says.
Although the idea initially came from her own challenges, Huang says after the club pre-screened the movies it was a common theme.
“The charm of Taiwanese film is that most are not very flashy. They’re everyday life stories ... Many of them induce tears just because they have deeper meaning,” added festival organizer Mellissa Wu (吳詩媛).
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