Taipei City Government

Exhibition period：June 27 – July 13, 2019
Venue：Taipei Zhongshan Hall,Taipei Shin Kong Cinemas,SPOT HUASHAN Cinema
 

Source: Department of Cultural Affairs

Taipei Film Festival—the first to bear the name of a Taiwanese city—plays an important role in bringing together the film industry, government, and academia. The festival makes effective use of government funding by building links with the industry, giving insight into its current state, and helping to nurture film talent and provide contacts within academia. The festival also acts as a channel of communication between filmmakers and their audiences, cultivating a viewership of independently minded connoisseurs.

Taipei Film Festival has always advanced with the times by fine-tuning its programme and including top cinematic works from around the world, but also by striving to bring outstanding foreign directors to Taipei to create more opportunities for interaction between domestic and international filmmakers. It is on this platform and using these methods that Taipei Film Festival has built its reputation in Taiwan and around the world.

Many of the themes in this year’s programme continue along the lines of previous years. “Asian Prism” focuses on films from Asia, including contemporary works from such countries as Japan, South Korea, India, China, and Taiwan. The “International New Talent Competition” brings in fresh and masterful works from new cutting-edge directors. “Reality Bites” carries on its exploration of the creative forms of documentaries and non-documentaries. This year’s “Retrospective” pays respect to the mother of the French New Wave, the late Agnès Varda, with a wonderful selection of films that explore her people-oriented, gentle, and sincere approach. The“Filmmaker in Focus” presents works of renowned independent Thai film editor Lee CHATAMETIKOOL, and acclaimed Indonesian filmmaker Garin NUGROHO.

This year sees the return of the well-received VR segment, where audiences take the immersive sensory experience a step further by visiting the live venue, learning about, and participating in VR film creation, development, and trends. The VR segment also allows content creators to think about how VR technology and formats can be applied to daily life and creative works, and the roles they play in these cross-domain presentations. The planning and presentation of this segment accentuates the innovative and groundbreaking spirit of Taipei Film Festival.

In the same vein, “In Progress: Editing” consists of four themed talks delivered over two days that take a look at behind-the-scenes elements of film that may be new to audiences. Led by experienced Thai post-production and sound editor Lee CHATAMETIKOOL, Taiwanese documentary and narrative film editor LI Nien-hsiu, and Hong Kong genre film editor Wenders LI, the talks are aimed separately at industry professionals and general audiences, and will involve discussion about the relationship between editing, story, and the audience.

Taipei Film Festival is not just a large-scale film screening event. We hope these programmed screenings, events, talks and workshops will help to show it as a place of nurture where Taiwanese and foreign filmmakers can interact and learn from each other. In this way, it will become a leading platform for cultivating audiences with diverse artistic tastes and viewing habits.

As an urban film festival with an international outlook, Taipei Film Festival will strive to continue to innovate and grow step by step. That is our passion and our promise.

2019 TFF Website: www.taipeiff.taipei/