The Hungarian capital, Budapest, was on Friday announced to be Taipei Film Festival’s “city in focus” this year, with 20 films to be screened as a “condensed history” of Hungary’s cinematic scene, the organizers said.
The event’s organizers; the Taipei City government, Taipei Culture Foundation and Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs; said that the film festival’s “themed city” programming is returning this year.
The concept was dropped in 2016 when the festival was revamped.
Among the 20 films to be screened are four newer films, including Semmelweis, Hungary’s biggest box office hit in the past five years, which tells the story of Ignaz Semmelweis, a physician who discovered the cause of puerperal fever and introduced antisepsis into medical practice in the 19th century.
Another is Katalin Moldovai’s feature debut Without Air which takes on the conservative Hungarian government in her depiction of a high-school teacher accused of promoting homosexual values to her students.
Sixteen New Wave films that reflect life under the authoritarian socialist regime during the Cold War, including films made by the Balazs Bela Studio from the 1960s to 1980s, are scheduled to be screened, the organizers said.
Hungarian director Bela Tarr was named this year’s “Filmmaker in Focus,” with his first two feature films — Family Nest (1979) and The Outsider (1982) — and his 2011 film The Turin Horse to be screened during the festival, the organizers said.
The Outsider is one of only two Tarr films in color and the first to hit the big screen in Taiwan 20 years ago, while The Turin Horse is the last work he directed before he announced his retirement from directing feature-length films.
The organizers said they would screen the digitally restored versions of Family Nest and The Outsider during the festival.
Themed cities first became a part of the film festival’s programming in its fourth year in 2002, with Paris and Prague being featured that year, followed by Kyoto and Melbourne in 2003.
Other featured cities included Berlin, Stockholm, Warsaw and Lisbon. In 2010 the festival featured Brazil. The city/country feature was dropped from the program in 2016.
This year’s festival is to run from June 21 to July 2. The Taipei Film Awards coinciding with the festival are to be held on July 6.
No information regarding ticket sales has been announced.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
Taiwan and its Pacific ally Tuvalu on Tuesday signed two accords aimed at facilitating bilateral cooperation on labor affairs, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The governments inked two agreements in Taipei, witnessed by Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and visiting Deputy Tuvaluan Prime Minister Panapasi Nelesone, MOFA said in a news release. According to MOFA, the agreements will facilitate cooperation on labor issues and allow the two sides to mutually recognize seafarers’ certificates and related training. Taiwan would also continue to collaborate with Tuvalu across various fields to promote economic prosperity as well as the well-being of their
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
RSS