For German audiences to learn more about Taiwanese society through Taiwan-made films,"Taiwan Film Week” was hosted by Leipzig's Kino Prague Spring cinema (http://www.kinobar-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/index.pl) and Berlin's Babylon cinema (http://www.babylonberlin.de/).
Organized by the Ministry of Culture's Berlin division, the film screenings showcased five films - "Small Talk (日常對話),” "Absent Without Leave (不即不離),” "Fight for Justice (進擊之路),” "Hebei Taipei (河北･台北),” and "Happy Dorm (極樂宿舍).”
Directed by Huang Hui-chen (黃惠偵), "Small Talk" documents the difficult dialogues between Huang and her lesbian mother. Through their communications, it reveals the painful past of her mother and shows how they repair their mother-daughter relationship. The film was named best documentary at the 2017 Teddy Awards held alongside Berlinale.
"Absent Without Leave" by Taiwan-based Malaysian filmmaker Lau Kek-huat (廖克發) is a film tracing the history of Lau's own family. Lau's attempts to reconnect with his absent father leads him to uncover the untold story of his grandfather and Malaysia's hidden past. Lau participated in the 2017 Berlinale Talents workshop after the success of this film.
"Hebei Taipei" by Li Nien-hsiu (李念修) is a documentary that took 15 years to complete. It tells the story of Li's own father, a veteran from the northern Chinese province of Hebei, who resettled in Taiwan because of the Chinese civil war. The film won the best documentary award at the Taipei Film Festival and Network of Asian Women's Award Film Festival.
"Fight for Justice" is a documentary directed by James C.H. Su (蘇哲賢), the youngest director to ever win a Golden Horse Award in Taiwan. The film depicts how a group of Taiwanese lawyers seek justice for the vulnerable and disadvantaged in Taiwan.
"Happy Dorm" is a R-rated drama where students fight to keep their dormitory building from being demolished. Scriptwriter-director Hero Lin (林世勇) based the story on his own dormitory experience. The film is partly inspired by a real-life police raid that resulted in 14 Taiwanese students convicted for downloading copyrighted material.