Three Taiwanese films, including one by the late director Edward Yang (楊德昌), will be screened at this year’s London Film Festival.
The films are When Love Comes (當愛來的時候), a new movie directed by Chang Tso-chi (張作驥); Taipei Exchanges (第36個故事), directed by Hsiao Ya-chuan (蕭雅全); and Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day (牯嶺街少年殺人事件).
Yang’s film, a romantic drama based on a real-life incident from the director’s school days, was selected for the festival 19 years after it was made and three years after his death.
The film won several awards at the Asian Pacific Film Festival, Kinema Junpo Awards and Tokyo International Film Festival.
A total of 197 feature-length films and 112 shorts from 67 countries will be screened at the London festival from Oct. 13 to Oct. 28, Sandra Hebron, artistic director of the festival, said on Thursday.
The lineup this year features the “pick” of British and world cinema, Hebron said, adding that 11 films would be shown in an international setting for the first time.
Hebron said another interesting aspect of the festival is that 57 of the films were directed by women, the highest number ever.
The organizers have been seeking to achieve a higher degree of diversification and internationalization, she said.
The festival will open with Never Let Me Go, adapted by Alex Garland from Kazuo Ishiguro’s highly acclaimed novel, and starring George Clooney, Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan.
Danny Boyle’s thriller 127 Hours will close the festival. It is based on the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston, who was forced to amputate his own arm to survive after he was trapped by a boulder in a Utah canyon.
Boyle’s last film, Slumdog Millionaire, closed the festival in 2008.
Other highlights of the festival will include The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth as King George VI, the British monarch during World War II who struggled to overcome a severe stutter, and Conviction, starring Hilary Swank as a woman on a quest to clear her brother of murder charges.
Five films from China are also in the lineup.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS