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Taiwan Film Festival UK & Nordic is back this November in cinemas and online at Rio Cinema in London. Let us draw a map to reconnect with you. Our next chapter, ‘Wounded yet Healed’ is a curation of films, music & book clubs inviting you to witness the wounds of diverse culture, history, environment & politics - and to reimagine new ways of healing. Looking forward to welcoming you back safely during these tough times and supporting our local cinemas.
Iceland Live Music 15h59 - 18h00 Taiwan Dance 23h59 - 02h00 UK Watch Party 16h59 - 19h00
We live in the parallel dreamlands, dance and dance , run and run, until the end of these dreams. The volcanic islanders are the first crowd to be woken up, live music performed by Hermigervill at MENGI in Reykjavik will stream in FUl Taipei. Arctic afternoon falls into Pacific midnight, two performers in Taiwan are dream-dancing in an awe controlled by Icelandic audience.
Experiment/Installation Created by Aephie, Uta Reichardt, Rene Boonekamp
Out Of Sync 不同步舞池
The rest of the world are welcome to join the party via four different channels/ characters’ point of views, to lose control and in sync no more.
Saturday, 7 November
Pre-Festival Dance Party
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Path of Destiny
UK Premiere | YANG Chun-Kai 楊鈞凱 | 2017 | Taiwan | 71 min | with pre-recorded intro from Panay Mulu
Panay Mulu, who can possess spirits, has a felt that the spirits guided her to face her own “Path of Destiny.”
with pre-recorded intro and Q&A from Panay Mulu
Rio Player | 13h00 28 November - 5 December
不得不上路(U)
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Taiwanese indigenous shaman, Panay, returns to her indigenous roots from Christianity. The Sikawasay, from the Amis tribe, is known as the people who possess spirits. Panay has been with them for 20 years, recording rituals that may soon disappear and capturing the tribe’s unique way of life.
Katthveli Book Club 讀書會 vol.1 :
in English 19h00-20h00 GMT in Mandarin 17h00-18h00 GMT
The Price of Democracy
A rare interview with abducted Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-Kee on his selection of books. Stories on Causeway Bay Books reopened in Taiwan this year.
Online | Tuesday, 1 December
Causeway Bay Books’ Lam Wing-Kee selects 銅鑼灣書店選書
This event aims to support freedom of speech and independent press.
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The Price of Democracy
Rio Player | 13h00 28 November - 5 December
狂飆一夢(12)
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UK / Europe Premiere | LIAO Jian-Hua 廖建華 | 2019 | Taiwan | 91 min | Pre-recorded intro from Dir. Liao Jian-Hua & Prod. Jewel Lai
Democratic Transformation, Social-political Movement, Civil Resistance The director LIAO, a confused twenty-something, looks back upon the 40-year-history of democratization in Taiwan through the life experiences of two old-timers, who are grass-root rebels. He attempts to discover what causes their actions and decisions to be political activists, and what are their limitations and sacrifice. The two protagonists are TSENG, a female novelist, who got divorced because of her political idealism in the era of White Terror; and KANG, a canvasser who is known as a “Microphone Man”. KANG was an energetic young person on the streets during the 80’ but now living in hardship. On the other hand, TSENG needs to tackle her emotional trauma during her resistance experiences of old days. LIAO’s confusion appears, which connects different sections dealing with the past and present, presenting the interaction and mutual gazes between the director and the interviewees. The director gradually realizes that the real
battlefield for everyone is life itself. Director LIAO Jian-hua His . first feature-length documentary The Last Insurrection was nominated for 2016 DMZ International Documentary Film Festival – Asian Competition. Through in-depth interviews and researches, the film clearly recurred the Taiwan Independent Association (TIA) Incident in 1991. Producer Jewel Chen-Lin She holds an MA in Film and Screen Study from Goldsmith College, London. She used to be a journalist for a few prominent trade magazines and focused on the Technology Industry. Jewel has held the acclaimed CNEX documentary film festival successfully twice. She founded Dot Connect Studio Ltd. in 2012 and is currently a film producer and festival programmer. Supported by TFAI + Taiwan Docs
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Screen 1 @ Rio Cinema | 15h30, Saturday 5 December
Ocean + Isle of Chair + Gold Fish + Live Music
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(12)
Ocean 海 (12)
UK Premiere | KE Chin-Yuan 柯金源 | 2016 | Taiwan | 59 min | Pre-recorded intro from KE Chin-Yuan
Ocean is an important observation and record of nearly 20 years of changes in the marine environment. This film continued to focus on actual situations of the marine environment and re-thinking people’s interaction with the ocean, and alerting the viewers to the ocean crisis.
About the Director KE Chin-Yuan A selfless, forward-looking documentarian’s long and silent protest for Taiwan’s environment.
Isle of Chair 椅島 (U)
Ivyy CHEN 陳鈺螢 | 2020 | UK | 6 min
On a secluded Island, a chair has fallen down.
Kimhi (Gold Fish) 金魚 (12)
Fish WANG 王登鈺 | 2018 | Taiwan | 17 min
A boy with a special talent discovers that he may never grow up. Those with power are devouring dreams so everyone else is destined to serve. Can he break the rules and free the people or will they still blindly follow?
Music and a Reading Naima Karlsson interests in repetition, improvisation and the abstract relationships between language/image/symbol/sound. Nissa Nishikawa interprets traditional forms of dance, ritual and craft in ways that illuminate animistic and alchemical philosophies.
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Screen 1 @ Rio Cinema | 15h30, Sunday 6 December 8
The Age of Awakening 前進 (12)
UK Premiere | KE Chin-yuan 柯金源 | 2018 | Taiwan | 109 min | Q&A with Extinction Rebellion
This film re-examines major environmental movements and events in Taiwan from the 1980s to 2018, including the protest against LCY Chemical Corp in Hsinchu, anti-DuPont movement in Lukang, movement against the expansion of petrochemical industry, anti-nuclear and anti-air pollution protests. It is a compilation of over 30 years of documentary footage and interviews of those who took part in the protests.
TIDF Outstanding Contribution Award Supported by TFAI + Taiwan Docs
Katthveli Book Club 讀書會 vol.3 : White Terror Survivor
Tsai Kun-Lin’s selection of books and his stories. Recorded Q&A in English
Through reading Wu Ming-Ti’s novel, we find the traces of this imagined island of Wayo Wayo, across the sea, in the aftermath of the catastrophe echoing the reality of the environment. After the film, Ocean, by KE Chin-Yuan. This edition of book club is to explore what connects humanity and the Earth through films and literature.
Tsai Kun-lin (蔡焜霖), a political prisoner during the White Terror era, who was arrested because he joined a book club in the high school. Tsai, 90, was imprisoned on Green Island from 1950 to 1960. After leaving prison, Tsai established Prince Publishing Co. In 1966, he began publishing the semi-monthly magazine Prince. 60 years later, in 2020, Jenyu Peng ( Associate research fellow, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica/Taiwan) is in conversation with Tsai to go through the books he selects for this book club, why freedom of speech matters?
Online | 11h-12h, Sunday 6 December
in English
Online | 11h-12h, Saturday 12 December
Katthveli Book Club 讀書會 vol.2 : The Man with the Compound Eyes
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Rio Player | 13h00 10 - 12 December
Formosan Black Bear is Coming 黑熊來了 (U)
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Decades of over development in the mountains, illegal hunting and frequent human activities, which caused the Taiwan Black Bear’s nearly extinction. Since 2008, the experienced mountaineer/director Chueh-Ming Mai leads his team to document Professor Mei-Shui Hwang, who is the only researcher ever studied the Taiwan Black Bear deep in the forest that is more than 50 Kilometers away from the civilization, for more than 11 years. They documented the capture and release operations on the wild Taiwan Black Bears together, trying to release the messages on behalf of the mountains, forests and different kinds of species.
UK Premiere | MAI Chueh-Ming 麥覺明 | 2019 | Taiwan | 120 min
Through the epic aesthetics visual of the film, the audiences can explore the beauty of the mountain of Taiwan, and get the passion from the researching and filming teams, and know towards the ordeals for the bears in the wild all over the world. Humans have to be aware and protected by real action for our living earth. This is a cute story that also would be good for young adults. The approach of environmental protection has been radically challenged in Taiwan in the past three decades after the crazy growth of industrial economic activities. We’ve learned our wounds… and on the way to heal them.
Supported by TFAI + Taiwan Docs
UK Premiere | Adiong LU 盧彥中 | 2018 | Taiwan | 76 min
with pre-recorded intro from director Adiong LU ; Post screening Q&A with Lama Ngawang Jungney
him in order to seek the answer for their own lives. They consult with him regarding the questions, such as “Where did my deceased relatives go?” “What is the cause of my headache?” “What should I do if my son is sent to jail?” “Is it still possible for me to remarry my ex-wife?” Meanwhile, the water on the stove was boiled, and the believers waited outside taking off their shirts one by one, ready to get the unique “answer”from the Lama….
開水喇嘛 (12)+
A small village, Xiongtuo, situated in the Tibetan remote region. By word of mouth, there is a “boiling-water Lama” residing in the village. The Lama lives in a wooden house built by followers, which is in a mountainous area around 5,000 meters high. Every day, countless people from the major Tibetan regions travel across the mountains to visit
Supported by TFAI + Taiwan Docs
Screen 1 @ Rio Cinema | 15h30, Saturday 12 December
Boiling Water Lama
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Online | 21h30- 22h30 , Saturday 12 December
Online
Festival Wrap Party
When we prepare to say goodbye to 2020, notes in the air, the secret guest of the festival will drive us to the future. Sit tight xxx
Venue Rio Cinema 107 Kingsland High Street London E8 2PB 12
Credits | Publisher | FilmTaiwan
Festival Director/Programme Curator | Aephie Festival Associate Director | Georgina Paget Project Manager | Sora Yeh Visual Design | Ting Cheng
Marketing Team | Niu Yun-Ju, Abby Cheng
PR | Melissa Ramos , Lisa Henshaw, Stéphane Lim Printed by Dot Studio, London 2020
Support by | Boating Island, TFAI + Taiwan Docs Partner with Rio Cinema
Sponsors | SeaMonsters 小海怪 Special Thanks to | FUl Taipei, Chansing cycle-sustainable Resource Co.Ltd, Li Ying-Tung, Chang Tsung-Hsien, Ada Cotton, Peter Howden, Tim Stevens, Yoan Segot, Marisa Di Monda, Uta Reichardt, René Boonekamp, Sveinbjörn Thorarensen, Owen Hindley, Ingvar Haukur Gudmundsson, Ming-Chuan Huang, Jenyu Peng, Tsai Kun-Lin, Lim Wing-Kee, Ka Ki Wong, Wang Yi-Ching, Panay Mulu, Adiong Lu, Ngawang Jungney, Ke Chin-Yuan, Jewel Lai, Liao Jian-Hua, Wang Sin, Chen Yi-Ching, Ivyy Chen, Cheryl Lai, Szu-Min Chan, Grace Lin, Liu I-Ying, Wei Yu, Tony Huang, Azzurra Valente, Wu Yi Wen, Wanchi You, GuoTing Lin, Jo Dyson, Siao-ting Wu, Shou-An Chiang, Muning Lai, Adina Zemanek, Sunny Yang, Shih Han Chien, Lin Su Lien, Lucky Chen, Les Petites Choses Production