The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), scheduled to take place from Jan. 25 to Feb. 4, 2024, announced that the classic Taiwanese documentary “Emperor's Adventures in Hsi Hu (乾隆遊西湖)” has been selected in this year’s Cinema Regained Program.
The Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI) mentioned that the IFFR Cinema Regained Program focuses on film-restoration projects, cinema culture documentaries, and cinema heritage related themes. The program selected 46 films this time, including “Emperor's Adventures in Hsi Hu” by director Liu Yi-hung (劉議鴻) and “The Great White Tower” by Japanese director Satsuo Yamamoto.
Produced in 1994, “Emperor's Adventures in Hsi Hu” is a documentary about master puppeteer Li Tian-lu (李天祿) and his troupe I Wan Jan Puppet Theater (亦宛然掌中劇團). The TFAI launched a 4K digital restoration project on this film and completed the project in 2023.
Besides this documentary, two other Taiwanese films, namely, “Who’ll Stop the Rain (青春並不溫柔)” directed by Su I-hsuan (蘇奕瑄) and “When the Wind Rises (下風處)” directed by Chen Hung (陳浤), are also selected in the IFFR 2024.
(Photo courtesy of TFAI)