Taiwan documentary on migrant workers to make New York premiere

Taipei, March 5 (CNA) "Taman-taman (Park)", an award-winning documentary about two Indonesian poets in Taiwan, will be featured at this year's First Look Film Festival in New York, according to the Taipei Cultural Center in New York.

The documentary, being shown for the first time in New York, will be screened on March 13 at 6 p.m. at the Museum of the Modern Image's Bartos Screening Room.

The film, directed by Taiwanese director So Yo-hen (蘇育賢), follows the nighttime meetups of two Indonesian migrants in Tainan Park, where they transform their encounters with fellow migrants and stories about migrants' struggles into poetry.

In doing so, they become part of the poems themselves as the line between the narrator and the subjects becomes blurred, just as artists painting landscapes become one with their subject, So wrote in the "director's note" he provided for the film on the website Taiwan Docs.

Through the artist's touch, the paintings inevitably depart from the landscape, yielding an alternative version of the reality that could inspire yearning or induce fear, he wrote.

The documentary was the grand prize winner in the Taiwan Competition and Asian Vision Competition sections of the 2024 Taiwan International Documentary Festival.

It also clinched an Outstanding Artistic Contribution Award in the Envision Competition section of the 2024 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).

So will attend the screening, according to the event's page, though the organizers have not said whether there will be a post-screening question-and-answer session.

The First Look Film Festival, taking place March 12-16, presents a diverse selection of major New York premieres and work-in-progress screenings and is dedicated to introducing audiences to new art, artists, and perspectives, according to the event's page.

People can visit the page to find pricing details for festival passes and tickets.

Meanwhile, people in Taiwan who want to watch the film can see it at the National Tsing Hua University bookstore on March 6, the opening day of the 2025 Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF).

The film will open the festival at 7 p.m., and a discussion session with So will be held after the screening. Admission is free though people planning to visit are asked to sign up in advance.