The Venice Film Festival, due to take place from Sep. 1 to 11, unveiled the official line-up for its 78th edition on July 26. Two Taiwanese films are set to feature at this year's festival, with "The Night (良夜不能留)" by director Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) included in the Out of Competition section and "The Falls (瀑布)" by director Chung Mong-hong (鍾孟宏) in the Orizzonti Competition section.
Tsai's VR work "The Deserted," the documentary "Your Face," and "Goodbye, Dragon Inn (4K Restored Version)," made its world debut at the festival between 2017 and 2019. This is the fourth time for his work to make its world premiere at the festival.
Tsai said that "The Night" was inspired by an old classic Mandarin song of the 40s, and he produced this short film through capturing the street scene of Causeway Bay after the turmoil in Hong Kong.
"The Falls" is the second Taiwanese movie that earned recognition from the festival, after Tsai's short film "Diamond Sutra" was selected as the closing film of the Orizzonti Competition section in 2012. It is Chung's first work to observe the society from the perspective of a female protagonist. In addition to director Chu Yu-ning (瞿友寧) as the producer and Chang Yao-sheng (張耀升) as the screenwriter, the film also assembled quite the casts including Alyssa Chia (賈靜雯), Gingle Wang (王淨), Waa Wei (魏如萱), Lee Lee-zen (李李仁), Chen Yi-wen (陳以文), Liu Kuan-ting (劉冠廷).
Chung expressed his gratitude upon hearing the news, and he hopes that Taiwanese audiences will enjoy this movie. The production crew added that the film is expected to be released at the end of this year, depending on the situation of the pandemic.
(Photo courtesy of Homegreen Films and 3 NG Film)