Marking its 17th edition this year, the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) will be held from Mar. 10 through 20, featuring a wide variety of Asian films with a special focus on Taiwanese films.
In a collaboration between Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo and OAFF, eight Taiwanese films will be featured under the segment of "Special Programs <Taiwan: Movies on the Move 2022>," and the world premiere of the first episode of the seven-episode series Twisted Strings (良辰吉時)" by director Huang Xi (黃熙) will be given a gala screening at OAFF.
The lineup includes "Days Before the Millennium (徘徊年代)" by director Chang Teng-yuan(張騰元), Chienn Hsiang's (錢翔) "Increasing Echo (修行)," Fan Yang-chung's (范揚仲) "Leave Me Alone (不想一個人)," Li Shang-chiao's (李尚喬) "March: the Southern South (三月的南國之南)," Pan Ke-yin's (潘客印) "My Sister (姊姊)," Sasha Chuk's (祝紫嫣) "Plain Sailing (凪)," and Mimi Lee's (李美彌) "Girls' School <Digitally Remastered> (女子學校)." Among the titles, "Days Before the Millennium" have been selected to join the competition section.
Guests invited to the special gala screening of "Twisted Strings" on Mar. 16 include the festival's Chairman Kamikura Tsuneyuki (上倉庸敬), representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka Hsiang Ming-teh (向明德) and Director Alice Wang Shu-fang (王淑芳) of the Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo.
Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo stated that collaborating with the film festival to introduce the latest Taiwanese films under the "Taiwan: Movies on the Move" segment is an important channel to bring local films into the Japanese market.
Hsiang Ming-teh said that the collaboration between Taiwan Cultural Center and Osaka Asian Film Festival not only provides more opportunities for the international film industry to get in touch with the latest Taiwanese films, but also promotes close to 20 works to be screened in Japan over the years, which is a rare chance.