Taman-Taman (Park) (公園), an award-winning documentary about two Indonesian poets in Taiwan, is to be featured at this year’s First Look film festival in New York, the Taipei Cultural Center in New York said.
The documentary, being shown for the first time in New York, would be screened today at 6pm at the Museum of the Moving Image’s Bartos Screening Room.
The film, directed by Taiwanese director So Yo-hen (蘇育賢), follows the nighttime meetups of two Indonesian migrants in Tainan Park, where they transform their encounters with fellow migrants and stories about migrants’ struggles into poetry.
Photo: Screen grab from the Web site of Museum of the Moving Image.
In doing so, they become part of the poems themselves as the line between the narrator and the subjects becomes blurred, just as artists painting landscapes become one with their subject, So wrote in the “director’s note” he provided for the film on the Web site Taiwan Docs.
Through the artist’s touch, the paintings inevitably depart from the landscape, yielding an alternative version of the reality that could inspire yearning or induce fear, he wrote.
The documentary was the grand prize winner in the Taiwan Competition and Asian Vision Competition sections of last year’s Taiwan International Documentary Festival.
It also clinched an Outstanding Artistic Contribution Award in the Envision Competition section of last year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
So is to attend the screening, according to the event’s Web site, although the organizers have not said whether there would be a question-and-answer (Q&A) session after the screening.
The First Look film festival, taking place from yesterday until Sunday, presents a diverse selection of major New York premieres and work-in-progress screenings, and is dedicated to introducing audiences to new art, artists and perspectives, according to the event’s Web site.
People can visit the page to find pricing details for festival passes and tickets.
Separately, eight Taiwanese movies are to be presented at this year’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema (APUC) festival taking place in Chicago from Thursday next week to April 13, with director John Hsu’s (徐漢強) supernatural comedy Dead Talents Society (鬼才之道) selected as the event’s opening film.
The Taiwanese films include five that premiered last year: Yen & Ai-Lee (小雁與吳愛麗), The Uniform (夜校女生), Hunter Brothers (獵人兄弟), Doubles Match (乒乓男孩) and Dead Talents Society.
The 2023 film Old Fox (老狐狸) would be presented for the event’s Oscars Submissions Showcase. In addition, the Taiwanese classic Growing Up (小畢的故事) from 1983 and My Favorite Season (最想念的季節) from 1985 would also be screened during the festival.
After Hong Kong’s nine entries, Taiwan’s eight-film lineup is the second largest among 17 participating countries and regions at the festival.
Yen & Ai-Lee and The Uniform are among the eight shortlisted productions vying for the first-ever Grand Jury Feature Film Award at the festival.
According to the festival’s Web site, Hsu and Dead Talents Society leading actor, Chen Bo-lin (陳柏霖), would appear on the event’s opening night and participate in a post-screening Q&A session. Chen is also set to receive the APUC’s Bright Star Award.
Meanwhile, Yen & Ai-Lee director and writer Tom Lin (林書宇) and lead actress Kimi Hsia (夏于喬) are scheduled to introduce the film and participate in a Q&A after its screening on April 6.
The Uniform director Chuang Ching-Shen (莊景燊), producer Tang Tsai-Yang (唐在揚), and lead actress Chen Yan-fei (陳?霏) would appear to discuss the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A on April 12.
The festival is dedicated to showing works from regions throughout Asia, with this year’s lineup comprising 50 films from around the world, according to the APUC’s Web site.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
RSS