The Taipei Awards section contains a good line up of films, documentaries, shorts and animations by Taiwanese directors. Most of the feature films have already been released so it is a good chance to catch them in the cinema if you missed them first time around. These include Tears (眼淚), Au Revoir Taipei (一頁台北), Tsai Ming-liang’s Face (臉), Hear Me (聽說), Monga (艋舺), Pinoy Sunday (台北星期天) and Taipei Exchanges (第36個故事). Forthcoming films in the Taipei Awards are Seven Days in Heaven (父後七日), The Fourth Portrait (第四張畫) and Everlasting Moments (靈魂的旅程). Everlasting Moments is directed by Chen Wen-bin (陳文彬). It is a follow up to his short film about Atayal culture, Msgamil: Once Upon a Time (走過千年). In this film an ancient Atayal warrior goes to the city.

There are also free screenings at the Taipei Cinema Park (台北市電影公園). These begin with Taipei Live! from 25 June culminating in the awards on 1 July. On the 2-4 July there is Family Taipei. The Taipei Film Festival in cooperation with the Goethe Institute is presenting a series of films on green issues  from 9-11 July. All the events at the Taipei Cinema Park begin at 7:00 pm.

Most films in the festival have both English and Chinese subtitles, but check the website to be sure. Tickets are available at the venues throughout the festival.

• Formosa Betrayed set for February 2010 release
• Taipei Film Festival opens tomorrow
• Working the streets
• 10th Taipei Film Festival
• Article at culture.tw

              

Pinoy Sunday (台北星期天) directed by Ho Wi-ding (何蔚庭) tells the story of Manuel (Epy Quizon) and Dado (Bayani Agbayani), two Filipinos who work in a bicycle factory on the outskirts of Taipei.

The film begins by giving some background to their lives in the city. We see their basic accommodation in the factory where they yearn for a bit more comfort. Every night they are faced with being locked out if they don’t return to the factory before curfew. We also learn about their personal relationships. Manuel pursues the glamourous Celia (Alessandra de Rossi), while Dado is torn between his girlfriend Anna (Meryll Soriano) and his wife and family back in the Philippines.

Sunday is their day off when they seek some escape from the drudgery of life in the factory. They visit Little Manila in Zhongshan North Road and attend a service in the Catholic Church. Later they discover a red leather couch abandoned by the side of the road.

In their efforts to carry to the couch back to their factory they test their friendship and also have various encounters with an ensemble of characters. Although the Filipinos do essential work they are isolated from Taiwanese society by linguistic barriers and discriminatory attitudes. This isolation and marginalisation is apparent in the film but it also provides a window from which to observe Taiwanese society.

The Taiwanese people in the film are often depicted as unhappy. The couch that Manuel and Dado carry was abandoned after an argument between a Taiwanese couple. Anna cares for an elderly women who shows little emotion and whose family are too busy to pay attention to her. This is in contrast to the two Filipino friends who are able to find happiness and satisfaction in a couch and their friendship.

The film invites comparisons with Detours to Paradise (歧路天堂), another recent Taiwanese film about the lives of foreign workers. While both films are reminders of the difficulties faced by foreign workers in Taiwan, Pinoy Sunday has a brighter and more hopeful tone.

Pinoy Sunday beautifully captures the spirit of friendship and hope shared by Manuel and Dado. Despite the hardships they face there is an underlying sense of optimism that prevails.

Links

• Pinoy Sunday – official website
• Pinoy Sunday – Internet Movie Database
• Hidden in plain sight – Taipei Times review
• Pinoy Sunday – trailer at YouTube

• 2010 Taipei Film Festival
• 2007 at the movies
• Movie review: Island Etude
• The Wall-Passer: unique sci-fi romance
• 10th Taipei Film Festival

              

The movie is set in a cafe that Doris (played by Guai Lun-mei 桂綸鎂) opens with her sister Josie (played by Zaizai Lin 林辰唏). After asking the guests at the opening to bring a gift the cafe is filled with various items. Unwilling to sell anything other than coffee Josie starts to allow customers to trade things in the cafe for something they think is of equal value.

In the beginning Doris is business minded, while Josie is more idealistic. However the process of trading things not for their monetary value but for their meaning slowly transforms Doris.

A question that runs through the movie is whether one should spend their money on study or travel around the world. I think this is a question that runs deep in the mind of many Taiwanese people. The film uses several devices to explore this including interviews with people on the street. These integrate into the movie and it all flows quite well.

The majority of the scenes take place in the coffee shop though. The cafe used in the film was built especially for the production of the film but is now open for business. It’s located at No. 393 Fujin Street, Taipei City (台北市富錦街393號) and the name 朵兒咖啡館 is the same as in the movie. I don’t think you’ll find Gwai Lun-mei serving coffee there though.

Taipei Exchanges is a movie about understanding the value of things and following your dreams. It is quite a delight to watch and Guai Lun-mei and Zaizai Lin give great performances.

Links

• Taipei Exchanges – official website
• Taipei Exchanges – official blog
• Pennies for their thoughts – Taipei Times review
• ‘Taipei Exchanges’ catches you off guard – Taiwan News review
• 第36個故事 – Trailer on YouTube

• 2010 Taipei Film Festival
• 2007 at the movies
• Movie review: Island Etude
• The Wall-Passer: unique sci-fi romance
• 10th Taipei Film Festival

              

The 2010 Urban Nomad Film Festival (城市遊牧影展) began on Friday night with the Taiwan premiere of The Cove at the Armed Forces Cultural Centre in Taipei. The Cove won the 2010 Academy Award for best documentary and the premiere was ahead of the documentary’s general release in Taiwan on 7 May.

The night began with a screening of Taiwan’s Critically Endangered Dolphins, a short documentary produced by Christina MacFarquhar of the Wild at Heart Foundation. This detailed the work of activists to save Taiwan’s endangered population of humpback dolphins that live in the waters off Changhua and Yunlin counties. The efforts of activists to bring attention to the dolphin’s plight were shown to be continually frustrated by industry and government. Following this there were speeches by Chen Bin-heng of the Mazu Fish Conservation Union (台灣媽祖魚保育聯盟) and Canadian musician Matthew Lien.

The Cove shows the work of a group of activists led by Ric O’Barry to expose the annual dolphin slaughter at Taiji in Japan. The documentary avoids falling into the trap of anthropomorphising the dolphins and shows them as unique and intelligent creatures on their own terms. It was Ric O’Barry’s own experience as a dolphin trainer that led him to discover how much the dolphins suffer in captivity. This led him to become an activist working to free captive dolphins around the world.

In Taiji the government, police and fishermen all work to keep the dolphin slaughter a secret. The film exposes this multi-level conspiracy that stretches all the way to the International Whaling Commission. In addition to the dolphin slaughter the high levels of mercury in the dolphin meat are also exposed. The Cove is a powerful film and will certainly have major impacts in Japan and on dolphin conservation around the world. There are also some parallels between the efforts of government and industry to continue the dolphin slaughter in Japan and Taiwan where government and industry’s pursuit of industrial development depends on denying the possible effects of that development on the humpback dolphin population.

Urban Nomad, which began in 2002, has utilised a range of venues around Taipei, but Friday night was the first time it had held a screening in a proper theatre. This reflects the growth of the film festival which is Taiwan’s largest independent film festival and an important outlet for short films and a range of documentaries that would otherwise go unseen in Taiwan. There is also an awards section for short films in cooperation with the Taiwan Original Filmmakers Union (電影創作聯盟).

The film festival continues all week with screenings at the Taipei Artist Village (台北國際藝術村) and Warehouse E3 at Huashan Arts Park (華山創意園區). There is a strong theme of environmental and human rights issues in the documentaries selected for the festival. Tonight (Sunday 2 May) the theme of ocean-based conservation continues with Sharkwater, a documentary about the global trade in shark fins. The closing night next Saturday 8 May at Huashan includes Bullshit, a documentary profiling Indian activist Vandana Shiva and The Shock Doctrine, a documentary based on Naomi Klein’s book of the same name.

Check www.urbannomad.tw for full details of all events.

• Urban Nomad: a great cinematic experience
• Shorts at Urban Nomad
• Shorts at the Taipei Film Festival
• 2007 at the movies
• Taiwanese cinema in 2009

              

Au Revoir Taipei

Kai goes to Bao, a real estate agent who doubles as a gangster, to ask for his help in getting to Paris. Kai is asked to deliver a package in return for the favour which sets up a chase that unfolds over one night in Taipei.

The movie then takes a rollicking ride through the streets of Taipei. The comic incidents evoked plenty of laughs from the audience. The story maintains a good pace throughout. Even though the ending is a bit predictable there is plenty of fun on the way to getting there.

Au Revoir Taipei is thoroughly entertaining and although it is nominally a love story the movie never takes itself too seriously. I saw it on Saturday morning in a packed Ximending cinema and the young audience seemed to enjoy it.

Links

• Au revoir Taipei – official blog
• Au revoir Taipei – Internet Movie Database
• Paris, Taipei – Taipei Times review
• Au revoir Taipei review – The Hollywood Reporter
• Arvin Chen on Taiwan’s Film Scene and ‘Au Revoir Taipei’ – The Wall Street Journal
• 【一頁台北】 Au Revoir Taipei – official trailer at YouTube

• 2010 Taipei Film Festival
• 2007 at the movies
• Movie review: Island Etude
• The Wall-Passer: unique sci-fi romance
• 10th Taipei Film Festival

              

I reviewed Tears (眼淚) last year after I saw it at the Golden Horse Film Festival. The movie is officially released in Taiwan today. The movie tells the story of Guo, an old policeman who employs some unethical policing methods and eventually has to face up to his past.

The movie is being widely discussed in Taiwan for its theme of transitional justice. I have selected a couple of articles on the topic and translated part of them. In the Liberty Times (自由時報) Wang Dan (王丹), who recently spent six months in Taiwan as a visiting professor at NCCU, wrote:

做為「轉型正義」三部曲的第一部，鄭文堂並沒有去處理白色恐怖這個政治性的轉型正義議題，而是從員警執法的 社會層面入手，我認為這是很值得肯定的努力。關於轉型正義的議題，我一向認為過去的討論太政治化，反而不利於這個議題的深入進行。其實在社會層面，也有很多轉型正義的面向要去處理，這些面向涉及的是人性和人與人之間的關係的問題，因而來 得更加復雜。同時，這也是政府和國家權力無從處理，而需要公民社會本身來處理的問題。

In the first of a trilogy of films about transitional justice, Cheng Wen-tang didn’t deal with the issue of the White Terror period. Instead he began by looking at how the police enforce the law in society. I think this is a commendable effort. With regard to the topic of transitional justice I always believe the discussion in the past was too politicised and it’s not really favorable to discussing this topic deeply. Actually at the social level there are many issues of transitional justice that need to be faced. These involve human nature and the problems in relations between people. As a result they are more complex. At the same time this is something that the government or the power of the state can’t manage. It requires the citizens and society itself to manage.

Freddy Lim has an article about the film on his blog:

像老郭一樣的老警察、老法官、老檢調們，台灣市面上不知道還有多少，他們可能像老郭一樣進行著一個人的贖罪，也可能毫無愧疚地過著自由自在的生活；威權政 府下的受害者，成千上萬像小雯一樣的底層人民，每天都在掙扎著。這是民主國家「轉型正義」工程要處理的課題，然而，台灣政府的轉型正義工作還沒開始，就已 經結束。所幸，電影工作者用一部好電影，提醒著台灣，我們還有一件事情沒有解決。

No one knows how many old policeman like Guo and old judges and prosecutors there are in Taiwan. Like Guo they might be experiencing judgment for their crimes or they might be living their lives feeling not the least bit guilty about what they have done wrong. Countless people like Xiao Wen [the betel nut beauty in the movie] make up the society and face struggles every day. This is the problem of transitional justice that a democratic country needs to deal with. However, the work of transitional justice by the Taiwan government still hasn’t started, it’s already over. Fortunately a filmmaker’s work reminds Taiwan that it still has some matters that haven’t been resolved.

For those who can understand Mandarin check out this video on YouTube with Freddy Lim, T.C. Chang (張鐵志), former DPP legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) and executive director of the Judicial Reform Foundation Lin Feng-jeng (林峰正) talking about the movie.

• What is justice? 正義是啥米
• Transitional Justice Conference in Taipei
• German magazine about Taiwan
• Tears: a tough police drama
• Transitional justice and Taiwan

              

Paris, Taipei: Bicycles Forever (巴黎.台北 單車萬歲) is a documentary directed by Jean-Robert Thomann (尚若白). It looks at the experience of bicycle commuters in Paris and Taipei. I went to the premiere screening at Eslite Dunnan Bookstore today and it will screen on PTS (公視) tomorrow.

The documentary explores the attitudes of those who have chosen to use a bicycle as their primary form of transport. It looks at both the positives and negatives of this lifestyle choice. The people featured are quite a diverse group. I thought the most interesting one was a woman who uses a bicycle to send her two children to school. If only more people in Taipei would follow her example.

The documentary also considers the development of bicycle paths and bike sharing systems. Taipei’s U-bike system obviously lags a long way behind Paris’s Velib system. It shows that while there have been some improvements in Taipei, the city still has a long way to go before it provides a friendly environment for bicycle commuters.

The photo above shows Jean-Robert filming Bike Smiling in Taipei in March 2009. There is a funny story related to this photo. Before being interviewed the man said they should interview the foreigner to make it more international (國際化). I replied that it was better to film him to make it more local (本土化). I make several brief appearances in the documentary.

Paris, Taipei: Bicycles Forever premieres on PTS at 10pm on Tuesday 9 March 2010. There are repeats at 3am on 10 March and 3pm on 13 March. The documentary is in French and Mandarin with Chinese subtitles.

【巴黎.台北 單車萬歲】
公共電視13頻道
3/9   週二 晚間十點
3/10  週三 凌晨兩點半
3/13  周六 下午三點
法、華語發音，中文字幕

• Cycling in Taiwan video
• Photo in Sky Couch magazine
• New cycling website
• Cycling along the Tonghou River
• Celebration of cycling in Taipei

              

The film, set in Taipei’s Wanhua district in the 1980s, evokes a nostalgia for a not so distant past. It perhaps represents a time of innocence, a world on the cusp of old and new. This sets up the plot with outside gangs seeking to move in and change things, while the Temple Front resists change.

Mosquito has grown up without a father and looks up to Geta, played by Ma Ru-long (馬如龍), as a father figure. Xiaoning, played by Ke Jia-yan (柯佳嬿), is Mosquito’s love interest. However, she plays a fairly peripheral role. This is essentially a film about a male world of brotherhood and betrayal. There are quite a few fight scenes, some of which are quite violent. However, the real focus is on the relationships between the gang members.

Overall Monga is a well executed production that successfully builds dramatic tension and sympathy for the key protagonists. With the benefit of a wide opening Monga has already enjoyed success at the box office and will no doubt draw big crowds over the Lunar New Year holiday. It is an entertaining film and the audience will certainly enjoy it.

*The film has English subtitles in cinemas screening the non-digital version.

Links

• Monga – official blog
• Monga – trailer at YouTube
• What tangled webs they weave – Taipei Times review
• Monga – China Post review
• ‘Monga’ beats ‘Avatar’ on first-day gross – Focus Taiwan
• “Monga” box office success feeds local tourism – Taiwan Today

• 2010 Taipei Film Festival
• 2007 at the movies
• Movie review: Island Etude
• The Wall-Passer: unique sci-fi romance
• 10th Taipei Film Festival

              

I saw the short film Msgamil: Once Upon a Time (泰雅千年) while visiting Smangus in August last year. I then saw Through Thousands Years* (走過千年) at the Ethnographic Film Festival. Msgamil is a short film produced by Chen Wen-bin (陳文彬) about the historical migration of the Atayal. Through Thousands Years, by the Atayal director Pilin Yabu, documents the process of the making of Msgamil.

I recently visited Taichung to talk with Dr Lin Yih-ren (林益仁) at Providence University (靜宜大學). Dr Lin very kindly gave me DVDs of both films and also two books about the production of the films. The books, titled Words from Yaba (Chinese: Yaba的訪; Atayal: Kay na yaba), are both bi-lingual with one edition in Chinese and Atayal and the other in English and Atayal. The text is beautifully illustrated by Wang Yong-cheng (王永成) and also includes photos from the making of the films.

The book takes the form of a series of letters written by Pilin Yabu to his children while in the process of making the documentary. The letters convey lessons about the gaga, the moral code of the Atayal that is inherited from the elders. These lessons teach about many important aspects of Atayal culture such as weaving, hunting and the meaning of facial tattoos.

The most important lessons though come from placing these lessons in a contemporary context surrounding the making of a film in an Atayal community. By placing the wisdom of the gaga within the context of contemporary events it shows how the culture adapts to changing circumstances. The letters from a father to his children also shows how the gaga is actively transmitted to the next generation.

The documentary reveals that there was a lot of conflict in the film making process. This is discussed in some more detail in the book. The book ends with contributions from six experts discussing Pilin Yabu’s documentary and the controversy involved in the production of the film. There is an emphasis on learning lessons from this rather than placing the blame on any individual.

Words from Yaba is a unique window into the contemporary world of the Atayal. Its multi-lingual format and two related films combine to make an important and accessible body of work for multiple audiences.

The books and DVDs are published by the Shei-Pa National Park (雪霸國家公園). They are available from the Government Publications Bookstore (國家書 松江門市) in Taipei and Wu-nan Culture Enterprise (五南文化廣場) in Taichung. They can also be purchased online at www.govbooks.com.tw.

*This is the English title that was used in the film festival. The English title on the DVD is The Moment Run Through.

• On reading Chinese
• Taiwan romance novel
• Book review: ABC Chinese-English Dictionary
• Some books about Taiwan
• The little red book

              

After a resurgence in 2008 on the back of the success of Cape No. 7 (海角七號), Taiwanese cinema quietly consolidated in 2009. While there were no great successes at the box office there were a number of quality films released.

The Taiwanese films I saw and reviewed in 2009 were Detours to Paradise (歧路天堂), Beautiful Crazy (亂青春), A Place of One’s Own (一席之地), Yang Yang (陽陽), No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (不能沒有你), Tears (眼淚) and Miss Kicki (霓虹心). Among these I think Yang Yang, No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti and A Place of One’s Own stood out.

A key point is that many directors struck a good balance between artistic merit and commercial value. However, this still hasn’t translated into success at the box office. While the government has provided financial support to the film industry, there is perhaps a need for more intervention by mandating the screening of more local content in cinemas.

Taiwanese directors also continued to make their mark internationally. Tsai Ming-liang’s Face, set in the Louvre Museum in Paris, continued his work as an auteur. Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock looked back to the momentous rock festival at Woodstock in 1969. Dan Bloom mused about what Ang Lee’s film meant for Taiwan.

There were a number of other interesting movies that I didn’t get the chance to see or review. Prince of Tears (淚王子) was a drama by Hong Kong director Yonfan set in the White Terror period, Hear Me (聽說) a romance with a deaf character released around the time of the Deaflympics and  Somewhere I Have Never Travelled (帶我去遠方), a coming of age story set in small town Taiwan.

The Taipei Film Festival and Golden Horse Film Festival continued as the major festivals with large and diverse programs. There was also a wide range of smaller film festivals. I enjoyed the biennial Ethnographic Film Festival especially for the two documentaries about the Atayal by Pilin Nabu. Urban Nomad continued to develop as a festival for alternative short films and documentaries.

2010 will see the release of Formosa Betrayed which has got positive reviews from its screenings in North American film festivals. Although it is a little ironic that this highly anticipated film about Taiwan was produced in the USA and Thailand. Production on Wei Te-wen’s Seediq Bale is now underway with a planned release date of mid-2011.

• Article at culture.tw
• 2010 Taipei Film Festival
• All about Ang Lee
• 2009 Taipei Film Festival
• Taiwanese cinema resurgent in 2008