This year’s Taiwan Film Festival in Australia is scheduled to run from July 25 to Sept. 14, and is to feature movies ranging from blockbusters to arthouse cinema, as well as Taiwanese indigenous works for the first time, event organizers said.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase Taiwanese indigenous cultures and highlight their values and voices, which are crucial to Taiwanese identity,” festival director Benson Wu (吳耀祖) said, adding that he expects the scenes of Taiwan’s landscape to impress audiences.
The movie Old Fox, directed by Hsiao Ya-chuan (蕭雅全) and produced by renowned Taiwanese directer Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), is to open this year’s festival, as it makes its Australian premiere.
Photo courtesy of the festival via CNA
Set in 1980s Taiwan, the award-winning film depicts the nostalgia of the era’s economic optimism and explores the balance between the pursuit of wealth and happiness in Taiwan’s working class.
The film won four Golden Horse Awards last year: Best Director, Best Original Film Score, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Makeup and Costume Design.
Hsiao is also to attend the premiere and an additional behind-the-scenes book talk at Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya on July 26.
Meanwhile, indigenous works include The Woman Carrying the Prey, a documentary by Truku director Rngrang Hungul, which follows the journey of Heydi Mijung, a Truku woman who is the only female hunter in her tribe.
The other indigenous films explore the cultures of the Atayal, Bunun, Puyuma and Paiwan peoples.
There would also be a script pitching competition, another first in festival history, which gives aspiring filmmakers an opportunity for international coproductions.
Participants can choose from five Taiwanese literary works previously promoted at the festival’s “Taiwanese Bookshelves” event, which showcases Taiwanese literature to Australian audiences, and adapt them into short film scripts.
The competition aims to inspire more outstanding Taiwanese literary film and television works, and those selected are to receive a cash prize of A$5,000 (US$3,343) to start the production of their adaptations, event organizers said.
So far, the selected books include The Stolen Bicycle by Wu Ming-yi (吳明益) and Dailygreen’s (每日青菜) comics Day Off.
The film festival is to span six cities: Sydney (July 25 to Sept. 14), Canberra (Aug. 2 to 4), Brisbane (Aug. 10 to 11), Hobart (Aug. 23 to 25), Melbourne (Sept. 5 to 12) and, for the first time, Adelaide (Aug. 30 to Sept. 1).
“The Taiwan Film Festival in Australia is an annual film festival event to provide a professional showcase platform for Taiwanese and Asian Australian filmmakers to promote their works in Australia,” the event’s Web site says.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu, front, grabs the pennant in a dragon boat race hosted by Qu Yuan Temple in the Shuanghsi River in Taipei’s Beitou District yesterday.
RSS