Hokkien, environment in focus at Taiwan human rights film festival

Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) This year's Taiwan International Human Rights Film Festival will center on the themes of human rights, environmental rights and Hokkien (commonly known as Taiwanese), according to the Ministry of Culture (MOC).

Hosted by the National Human Rights Museum and overseen by the MOC, the festival will be held from Sept. 19 to Oct. 12 at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Auditorium and from Sept. 22 to Sept. 28 at the Century Asia movie theaters' Kaohsiung Public Library Branch.

"Highlighting environmental changes caused by human activities, the festival will introduce the Environmental Rights section for the first time, alongside the Human Rights Lens section, the Ministry of Culture (MOC) said on its English-language website Global Outreach.

It will invite "audiences to explore diverse dimensions of human rights through the lens of environmental justice," the MOC said.

According to the MOC, the films selected for the Environmental Rights section include "The Blue Trail," "The Incredible Snow Woman," "Only on Earth," "The Rover," and "Flow," films that examine environmental changes through the Amazon rainforest, Greenland's icy landscape, and Taiwan's mountain peaks.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Lens section will showcase nine documentaries and feature films addressing political violence, social suppression, history, and resistance, the MOC said.

The lineup includes "Meeting with Pol Pot," "Invisible Nation," "Timestamp," "Black Box Diaries," "The Accidental Politician," "I'm Still Here," "An Unfinished Film," "The Swallows of Kabul," and "Sima's Song," it said.

The Hokkien movie showcase will be held as a peripheral in Taipei only, running from Aug. 22 to Oct. 31 at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Auditorium, and will feature 18 films.

Selected works for the section that have been announced include "Super Citizen Ko" (超級大國民) by director Wan Jen (萬仁), and "Strawman" (稻草人) and "Hill of No Return" (無言的山丘) by director Wang Toon (王童).

"A Drifting Life" (春花夢露) by director Lin Cheng-sheng (林正勝), "Jhugeshiro: The Demon Society" (諸葛四郎大戰魔鬼黨), adapted from the works of comic book artist Yeh Hong-chia (葉宏甲), and Sacred Forest (聖殿) by director Ke Chin-yuan (柯金源) will also be shown.

In a statement Wednesday, the MOC invited people to attend the screenings to both learn Hokkien and learn about Taiwan's democratization and human rights development since 1959.