The 14th Taipei Film Festival is running now until July 21. Award-winning Swedish film “Play” by Ruben Östlund and the world premier local film “GF*BF” by Ya-Che Yang were the two films featured at this year’s opening event on June 29. Forty one Swedish films are being screened at the festival among the total of 170 films from 36 countries.
This year will also see young directors and new talents featured in 12 films competing for the grand prize and special jury prize in the International New Talent Competition, with total prize money of US$27,000, according to the organizer.
This year five female directors have been nominated, the most ever, showing the increasing profile of women filmmakers throughout the world. In addition, 40 Taiwanese feature films, documentaries, short films and animations will compete for the top prize of the festival (US$33,540).
The festival is also celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Taiwan New Wave cinema movement by screening films from that period and holding a forum July 7-8 for Taiwanese filmmakers of different generations to discuss New Wave cinema topics. The New Wave cinema movement is characterized by realistic and sympathetic portrayals of Taiwanese life, in contrast to the kung-fu action movies and melodramas of earlier decades. One of the two closing films of the festival will be “In Our Time,” a 1982 Taiwanese production believed to have ushered in the New Wave era.
The festival is held at Taipei Zhongshan Hall, Shin Kong Cineplex, and Wonderful Theatre. Free admission is also available. For more information, visit Taipei Film Festival’s official website at this link.
