A virtual-reality (VR) film featuring Malaysian-born, Taiwan-based director Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) in the lead role is to premiere in a lineup of “immersive” films at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival in June, the festival announced on Tuesday.
Missing Pictures Episode 2: Tsai Ming-liang is the second installment in a series of documentary shorts by French filmmaker Clement Deneux that focuses on directors’ favorite stories that they were never able to bring to the big screen.
The film, which can be viewed using VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, was one of 11 to be selected for the “Virtual Arcade” category of the festival’s immersive cinema lineup.
Photo: CNA
Speaking at the Kaohsiung Film Festival in October last year, Tsai said that his role in the film was to narrate a story from his childhood, while the movie’s production crew captured his facial expressions and gestures.
The first film in the planned five-part Missing Pictures series was an eight-minute piece on US director Abel Ferrara, which was produced by a multinational team, including Taiwan’s Public Television Service (PTS) and Serendipity Films.
This year would be the fourth consecutive year a Taiwanese VR film has been featured at the Tribeca Film Festival, following Chalkroom (沙中房間) in 2018, Mr Buddha (董仔的人) in 2019, and Home (舊家) and Great Hoax: The Moon Landing (星際大騙局之登月計) last year.
This year’s festival is to return as an in-person event, running from June 9 to June 20, after moving to a virtual format last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tsai, 63, is the acclaimed director of films including Vive L’Amour (愛情萬歲), which won a Golden Lion (best picture) award at the 1994 Venice Film Festival, and the 2013 feature Stray Dogs (郊遊).
His latest film, Days (日子), starring long-time collaborator Lee Kang-sheng (李康生), was released last year.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
A promotional event for the launch of a drinks store led to police questioning a 26-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), the Taichung Police Department said yesterday. Police said that they questioned Chang and forwarded the case to prosecutors, accusing her of producing, distributing, broadcasting or selling pornography. Police said she faces charges related to the alleged distribution of indecent photographs on Twitter and using overtly sexual innuendos to promote the store on Monday night. Officers stumbled upon the content during a routine Internet “patrol.” Chang faces a prison sentence of up to two years and up to a NT$90,000 fine if found guilty