Sundance Film Festival Asia to open in Taipei

Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) More than a dozen feature-length and short films selected for this year's Sundance Film Festival in Utah, United States, will be screened at the festival's Asian edition which is set to kick off in Taipei on Wednesday.

In the meantime, the event, which will run through Aug. 25, will also feature 14 panel discussions and workshops, with individuals who work on Hollywood blockbusters expected to share their work experiences and engage with local filmmakers in Taiwan.

At a press conference in Taipei on Tuesday, Kevin Lin (林士斌), one of the founders of G2Go Entertainment, described the Sundance Film Festival Asia in Taipei, which is an extension of the U.S.' largest independent film festival, as an "independent film celebration."

Lin, an entrepreneur best known for co-founding the video live-streaming service Twitch, created G2Go Entertainment with friends to organize the film event in Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Kim Yutani, Sundance's director of programming, told the press conference that the event will be a place for audiences to "discover their voices, entertain the stories and take part in conversations."

The director noted that the Sundance Institute -- a non-profit organization established by Hollywood star Robert Redford to organize the annual film festival in Utah -- was dedicated to "support[ing] independent storytellers" and "elevat[ing] their work to audiences" globally.

Yutani, who will also be one of the panelists, added that she is "thrilled to be engaged with local audiences [and] the film community here on the ground."

Also joining the panels are Alan Taylor, director of Marvel's "Thor: The Dark World," and Lawrence Sher, nominated for an Academy Award in cinematography for "Joker," according to the organizer.

Ten feature films and five short films selected for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. will be shown at SPOT-Huashan Cinema in Taipei over the next five days, including Taiwanese-American director Sean Wang's (王湘聖) debut feature movie "Didi (弟弟)."

"Didi (弟弟)," which won the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic and U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble at the Sundance film festival, is a coming-of-age drama about how an angsty teenager from an immigrant family tries to navigate increasingly tense family and interpersonal relationships.

"A New Kind of Wilderness" and "Porcelain War," which received the top awards at Sundance in the World Cinema Documentary Competition and U.S. Documentary Competition, respectively, will also be screened at the Taipei event.

"A New Kind of Wilderness" explores how a family living in the wild is forced to make significant changes in life following a tragic event, while "Porcelain War" documents three Ukrainian artists striving to defend their homeland against the brutal war waged by Russia and preserve their culture.