Two film festivals, both rewarding excellence in short filmmaking, are joining forces this year. One is the annual Golden Harvest Awards (金穗獎), the oldest film festival in Taiwan and a lively platform for new talent and film students. The other is the lesser known Alternation Film Festival (交替影展), which takes place once every three years and screens short films made funded by subsidies handed out by the Government Information Office (GIO).
Organized by the Chinese Taipei Film Archive (國家電影資料館) under the auspices of the GIO, the double-bill event boasts a lineup of 79 fictional, animation, experimental and documentary shorts that will be screened at Cinema 7 (絕色影城) in Ximending, starting today.
Many of the selected works have already found success on the local festival circuit.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei Film Archive
With a technically polished, drama-packed cat-and-mouse tale set entirely at Tonghua Night Market (通化夜市) and starring big-name actors including Chou Heng-yin (周姮吟) and Huang Jian-wei (黃健瑋), Thief (小偷) received the Best Short Film Award at last year’s Golden Horse Awards (金馬獎).
Winner of last year’s Taipei Film Awards (台北電影獎) best short film gong, The Blackout Village (下落村的來電) takes a sober look at social underdogs through a well-executed story about an injured Taipower (台電) worker.
Since young filmmakers tend to turn their lens on what is close to them, it is not surprising that the subject of familial relations is among the most frequently visited topics.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei Film Archive
My Transformed Family (我的拼湊家庭), a nominee at last year’s Taipei Film Awards, tells of a struggling artist caught between creative anxiety and family strife. The acclaimed film features an admirable cast led by award-winning thespian Wu Pong-fong (吳朋奉) and noted director and actor Cheng Yu-chieh (鄭有傑).
Shot with 35mm film, Suspended Moment (休學) won praise for its novel approach. The movie relies on images and sounds, rather than words, to weave together a seemingly simple tale about an unemployed man and his aging mother taking a slow train to Taipei, where his daughter attends dance school, which the family can no longer afford to pay for.
With a touch of magical realism, Yaya’ is a coming-of-age story about an Aboriginal kid discovering his family’s house has a magical power that brings his pet dog back to life. With help from his friends, the child decides to save the hut from being demolished so that his terminally ill mother could be revived after she passes away.
Industry professionals, including directors Lin Yu-hsien (林育賢) and Yeh Tien-lun (葉天倫), as well as producer Jimmy Huang (黃志明) of Seediq Bale (賽德克．巴萊), will deliver lectures during the 10-day event.
For the Golden Harvest Awards alone, 49 films were selected from 195 entries to compete for a total of NT$3 million in prize money. Awards will be handed out for best fiction, animation, documentary, experimental and student films at a ceremony on March 30 at Zhongshan Hall, Taipei City (台北市中山堂).
The combined festival runs until April 1, after which it will tour the rest of the country until May 31. For more information, visit the event’s Web site at www.movieseeds.com.tw or its blog at blog.sina.com.tw/movieseeds.
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