As part of the Stockholm Spotlight Taiwan Project 2022, Sweden's Stockholm University will be hosting a Taiwan film festival in September, screening a total of eight Taiwanese documentaries and Taiwan post-new wave films. There will also be two backstage talks and Q&A sessions with documentary filmmakers. Through this event, it is hoped that it will enhance cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Sweden and Taiwan.
Organized by the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies of Stockholm University, the lineup includes "Eagle Hand (老鷹之手)," a film that won three prizes at the 2021 Cannes World Film Festival, as well as "Goddamned ASURA (該死的阿修羅)," "Dear Tenant (親愛的房客)," "Song of the Reed (蘆葦之歌)," "Seediq Bale (賽德克巴萊)," and others.
To boost participation among the public, the events will not take place within the campus. Four documentaries will be screened at Stockholm’s Museum of Ethnography, and four feature films will be screened at Bio Grand, a mainstream cinema in Stockholm.
After screening, there will be two backstage talks and Q&A sessions with the director of the opening film "Me and My Condemned Son (我的兒子是死刑犯)," Lee Chia-hua (李家驊), and the director of "Llyong Topa (拉流斗霸)," Kao Jun-Honn (高俊宏). Both directors will attend the sessions in person, offering their insights so that the audience can have a better understanding of Taiwanese society and cultural issues.
During the festival, a digital lecture series on Taiwan's literary and visual cultures at the Stockholm University will be held, inviting researchers from Taiwan and Europe to share their insights and knowledge on topics related to Taiwan’s cultural, historical, ecological, and political landscape via Zoom.
Ambassador Vincent Chin-Hsiang Yao (姚金祥), a representative of the Taipei Mission in Sweden, commented that the Ministry of Culture’s Spotlight Taiwan program (台灣光點計畫) has been carried out in many European countries and it will be held in Sweden for the first time. A signed agreement between the Taipei Mission in Sweden and Stockholm University is an important milestone in promoting academic and cultural exchanges.
Supported by MOC, Stockholm Spotlight Taiwan 2022 will run during the autumn term in 2022 and the complete program will be announced shortly.