Days (日子), a new film by Taiwan-based Malaysian director Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), has been selected for the upcoming New York Film Festival, the festival’s organizers said on Thursday.
The festival, which runs from Sept. 17 to Oct. 11, released a statement announcing its lineup of 25 feature films from 19 countries.
Days follows the daily lives of two solitary men — played by Tsai’s long-time muse Lee Kang-sheng (李康生) and first-time actor Anong Houngheuangsy, a young Laotian immigrant to Thailand — whose lives converge in a brief romantic encounter, according to the festival Web site.
The film ranks among “the most cathartic” of Tsai’s works, and is “constructed with the director’s customary brilliance at visual composition and shot through with profound empathy,” the festival said.
Days premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, where it received a Teddy Award, which honors films with an LGBT focus.
The film’s US premiere, scheduled in April at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, was ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In light of the crowd-size restrictions, the festival’s screenings would be held either in drive-in theaters or virtually, the statement said.
Following the announcement, Tsai on Facebook thanked the MoMA for allowing Days to premiere at the festival, adding that “each film has its own destiny.”
The noncompetitive New York Film Festival is held annually at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
In addition to between 20 and 30 feature-length films, the festival also includes documentaries, experimental movies and holds retrospectives.
Days is Tsai’s fifth film to be shown at the festival, following What Time is it There? in 2001, Goodbye, Dragon Inn in 2003, Stray Dogs in 2013 and Your Face in 2018.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that