The Hungarian capital, Budapest, was on Friday announced to be Taipei Film Festival’s “city in focus” this year, with 20 films to be screened as a “condensed history” of Hungary’s cinematic scene, the organizers said.
The event’s organizers; the Taipei City government, Taipei Culture Foundation and Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs; said that the film festival’s “themed city” programming is returning this year.
The concept was dropped in 2016 when the festival was revamped.
Among the 20 films to be screened are four newer films, including Semmelweis, Hungary’s biggest box office hit in the past five years, which tells the story of Ignaz Semmelweis, a physician who discovered the cause of puerperal fever and introduced antisepsis into medical practice in the 19th century.
Another is Katalin Moldovai’s feature debut Without Air which takes on the conservative Hungarian government in her depiction of a high-school teacher accused of promoting homosexual values to her students.
Sixteen New Wave films that reflect life under the authoritarian socialist regime during the Cold War, including films made by the Balazs Bela Studio from the 1960s to 1980s, are scheduled to be screened, the organizers said.
Hungarian director Bela Tarr was named this year’s “Filmmaker in Focus,” with his first two feature films — Family Nest (1979) and The Outsider (1982) — and his 2011 film The Turin Horse to be screened during the festival, the organizers said.
The Outsider is one of only two Tarr films in color and the first to hit the big screen in Taiwan 20 years ago, while The Turin Horse is the last work he directed before he announced his retirement from directing feature-length films.
The organizers said they would screen the digitally restored versions of Family Nest and The Outsider during the festival.
Themed cities first became a part of the film festival’s programming in its fourth year in 2002, with Paris and Prague being featured that year, followed by Kyoto and Melbourne in 2003.
Other featured cities included Berlin, Stockholm, Warsaw and Lisbon. In 2010 the festival featured Brazil. The city/country feature was dropped from the program in 2016.
This year’s festival is to run from June 21 to July 2. The Taipei Film Awards coinciding with the festival are to be held on July 6.
No information regarding ticket sales has been announced.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
Taiwan sweltered through its hottest October on record, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, the latest in a string of global temperature records. The main island endured its highest average temperature since 1950, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change contributes to ever more erratic weather patterns. Taiwan’s average temperature was 27.381°C as of Thursday, Liu said. Liu said the average could slip 0.1°C by the end of yesterday, but it would still be higher than the previous record of 27.009°C in 2016. "The temperature only started lowering around Oct. 18 or 19
RSS