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"Flowers of Taiwan II" a journey of Taiwan cinema

  • Date:2020-09-24~2020-09-27
'Flowers of Taiwan II' a journey of Taiwan cinema

The Joint Cultural Initiatives, Ministry of Culture in Taiwan, and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Spain and Italy will be presenting the second edition of "Flowers of Taiwan" film festival from Sept. 24 through 27 at the Cinema Farnese in Rome, Italy. The sensational film festival will be an introduction and celebration of the impressive history of Taiwanese cinema from the 1960s to present times.

In addition to the film screenings, there will be a virtual discussion featuring directors John Hsu (徐漢強), Lau Kek-huat (廖克發), and Lin Shu-yu (林書宇) who are unable to physically attend the film festival due to the pandemic. The three filmmakers will introduce their work and share their ideas of creation with the audience.

The film festival will begin on Sept. 24 with two films in Taiwanese language ( Taiyupian ) of the 60s, restored by the Taiwan Film Institute, and showcasing in Italy for the first time – "The Husband Secret (丈夫的秘密, 1960)" by director Lin Tuan-chiu (林摶秋), and "The Rice Dumpling Vendors (燒肉粽, 1969)" by director Hsin Chi (辛奇).

The first evening will close with the restored copy of "Raining in the mountain (空山靈雨, 1979)" by director Hu King (胡金銓) , cult director of wuxia cinema of the 1970s. Additionally, two short films "Grandmas Small Talk (阿嬤的秘密, 2019)" by director Lin Shih-Ching (林世菁), and "Binding (燒肉粽, 2019)" by director Chen Ting-ning (陳定寧) will also be screened.

The second day of the film festival will present films of the first and second Taiwanese New Wave with “The Boys from Fengkuei (風櫃來的人, 1983)" by award-winning director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), restored by Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique in collaboration with The Film Foundations, and "Eat Drink Man Woman (飲食男女, 1994)" by Oscar-winning Ang Lee (李安). Additionally, for the first time in Italy, "Super Citizen KO (大國民, 1994)," a film tackling Taiwanese political history by director Wan Jen (萬仁) will be screened.

Taiwanese cinema of the new millennium will be screened on the third day with "Missing Johnny (強尼·凱克2017)" by director Huang Xi (黃熙), and "The Fourth Portrait (鐘孟宏, 2010)" by the talented Chung Mong-hong (鐘孟宏), and lastly, "Detention (返校, 2019)" by John Hsu (徐漢強).

The last day of the film festival will be dedicated to the new generation of filmmakers, beginning with "Soul (失魂, 2013)" by Chung Mong-hong (鐘孟宏), followed by director Lau Kek-huat's (廖克發) "Boluomi (菠蘿蜜, 2019)," and director Lin Shu-yu's (林書宇) love story "The Garden of Evening Mist (夕霧花園, 2019)," which has been nominated for nine awards at 2020 Golden Horse Film Festival in Taiwan.

The event is free admission subject to availability, and all films in original language with Italian subtitles. Visit here for more information.