Taiwan Film Festival in Australia to kick off July 25

Sydney, June 28 (CNA) The 2024 Taiwan Film Festival in Australia, which opens on July 25 and lasts nearly two months until Sept. 14, will feature around 50 screening sessions, including 20 Australian premieres.

The festival will feature movies ranging from blockbusters to arthouse cinema, as well as Taiwanese Indigenous works for the first time, according to event organizers Friday.

"This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase Taiwanese Indigenous cultures and highlight their values and voices, which are crucial to Taiwanese identity," Festival Director Benson Wu (吳耀祖) said, also expecting the scenes of Taiwan's landscape to impress audiences.

The movie "Old Fox," directed by Hsiao Ya-chuan (蕭雅全) and produced by renowned Taiwanese directer Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), will open this year's festival in Sydney on July 25 as it makes its Australian premiere.

Set in 1980s Taiwan, the award-winning film depicts the nostalgia of the economic optimism during the era and explores the balance between the pursuit of wealth and happiness in Taiwan's working class.

The film won four Golden Horse Awards in 2023 for best director, best original film score, best supporting actor, and best makeup & costume design.

Hsiao will also attend the premiere and an additional behind-the-scenes book talk event at Kinokuniya Sydney on 26 July.

Meanwhile, Indigenous works include "The Woman Carrying the Prey," a documentary by Truku director Rngrang Hungul, which follows the journey of Heydi Mijung, a Truku woman who is the only female hunter in her tribe.

The other Indigenous films explore the cultures of the Atayal, Bunun, Puyuma, and Paiwan peoples.

Another first in festival history will be a script pitching competition, which gives an opportunity for international co-productions to aspiring filmmakers.

Participants can choose from a selection of five Taiwanese literary works previously promoted at the festival's "Taiwanese Bookshelves" event, which is showcasing Taiwanese literature to Australian audiences, and adapt them into short film scripts.

The competition aims to inspire more outstanding Taiwanese literary film and television works and those selected will receive a 5,000 Australian dollar cash prize to kickstart the production of their adaptations, event organizers said.

So far, the selected books include "The Stolen Bicycle" by Wu Ming-yi (吳明益) and Dailygreen's (每日青菜) comics "Day Off."

The film festival will span six cities: Sydney (July 25 to Sept. 14), Canberra (Aug. 2-4), Brisbane (Aug. 10-11), Hobart (Aug. 23-25), Melbourne (Sept. 5-12), and for the first time, Adelaide (Aug. 30 to Sept. 1).

According to the official website, the Taiwan Film Festival in Australia is an annual event to provide a professional showcase for Taiwanese and Asian Australian filmmakers to promote their works in Australia.