This year's Taiwan International Human Rights Film Festival is to center on the themes of human rights, environmental rights and Hokkien (commonly known as Taiwanese), according to the Ministry of Culture (MOC).
Hosted by the National Human Rights Museum and overseen by the MOC, the festival will be held from Sept. 19 to Oct. 12 at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Auditorium and from Sept. 22 to Sept. 28 at the Century Asia movie theaters' Kaohsiung Public Library Branch.
Photo: Screengrab of the Taiwan International Human Rights Film Festival’s website
"Highlighting environmental changes caused by human activities, the festival will introduce the Environmental Rights section for the first time, alongside the Human Rights Lens section, the MOC said on its English-language website Global Outreach.
It would invite "audiences to explore diverse dimensions of human rights through the lens of environmental justice," the MOC said.
According to the MOC, the films selected for the Environmental Rights section include "The Blue Trail," "The Incredible Snow Woman," "Only on Earth," "The Rover" and "Flow," which examine environmental changes through the Amazon rainforest, Greenland's icy landscape and Taiwan's mountain peaks.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Lens section is to showcase nine documentaries and feature films addressing political violence, social suppression, history and resistance, the MOC said.
The lineup includes "Meeting with Pol Pot," "Invisible Nation," "Timestamp," "Black Box Diaries," "The Accidental Politician," "I'm Still Here," "An Unfinished Film," "The Swallows of Kabul" and "Sima's Song," it said.
The Hokkien movie showcase is to be held as a peripheral in Taipei only, running from tomorrow to Oct. 31 at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Auditorium, and is to feature 18 films.
Selected works for the section that have been announced include "Super Citizen Ko" (超級大國民) by director Wan Jen (萬仁), and "Strawman" (稻草人) and "Hill of No Return" (無言的山丘) by director Wang Toon (王童).
"A Drifting Life" (春花夢露) by director Lin Cheng-sheng (林正勝), "Jhugeshiro: The Demon Society" (諸葛四郎大戰魔鬼黨), adapted from the works of comic book artist Yeh Hong-chia (葉宏甲), and Sacred Forest (聖殿) by director Ke Chin-yuan (柯金源) is to also be shown.
In a statement yesterday, the MOC invited people to attend the screenings to both learn Hokkien and learn about Taiwan's democratization and human rights development since 1959.
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