The program will include Australian Premieres, Classic Retrospective, and the exciting Short Film Competition comprising a plethora of creative works.
Festival Dates:
Sydney（28/7~7/8）Event Cinemas George St
Melbourne（30/7~31/7）Village Cinemas Jam Factory
Brisbane（6/8~7/8）Event Cinemas Brisbane City Myer Centre
Canberra（13/8） NFSA
“We missed the engagements and conversations with people in cinemas: a crucial part of human connection to make the festival so special. So we are really excited finally able to come back to the cinemas, as well as bring in international guests from overseas to attend the festival. Stay tuned!” said Benson Wu, Festival Director.
With the expansion of the festival, it’s not possible without the support from the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Australia, Melbourne Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce, and the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Australia (QLD)—all will be presenting the festival together this year. The festival also gives a warm welcome to this year’s co-presenting partner Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA).
This year’s Short Film Competition Juries
The Short Film Competition has always been one of the major events at the Taiwan Film Festival in Australia; it’s a crucial platform to promote and showcase more young filmmakers’ work from Asia to the diverse Australian audiences.
“It’s really interesting to see that we got a lot of animations and experimental works from this year’s submissions; maybe that’s what people have been doing during the lockdown,” said Simon Yang, Head of Festival Programmer.
This year’s Short Film Competition juries include the acclaimed Taiwanese film critics/author Cheng Pinhung, award-winning actress Wang Yu-Xuan, and veteran cinematographer Matthew Chuang.
Cheng Pinhung
Pinhung is an influential film critic from Taiwan, with a significant contribution to the Taiwanese cinema including the two publications: The Love and Death of Taiwan Cinema (2010) and Taiwan Cinema in Transition: In Search of True Taiwan Spirit (2019); Pinhung also has many years of experience working in the film festival industry.
Wang Yu-Xuan
Yu-Xuan, graduated in Theatre Directing at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. Yu-Xuan is a promising Taiwanese actress who has been in various productions, including the celebrated music video of Accusefive’s “Where I Lost Us”, the short film Family Day (TWFF, 2021) and tv-series On Children – Episode Peacock. Her latest’s work was Goddamned Asura (2021), for which she received the accolade Best Supporting Actress at the 2021 Golden Horse Awards.
Matthew Chuang
Matthew Chuang, born in Taiwan, is an Australian filmmaker, who has worked behind the camera for more than a decade and has been dedicated to the magical practice of bringing both his creative eye and adaptable processes to his projects, including My First Summer (2020) selected for Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival, Blue Bayou (2021) premiered at Cannes Film Festival – Un Certain Regard, and his latest DoP work You Won’t Be Alone (2022) selected for Sundance Film Festival – World Dramatic Cinema Competition.
Short Film Competition Finalists
After weeks of meeting and discussion, we are excited to announce this year’s Short Film Competition Finalists: Homebound, a powerful hybrid animation documentary by Ismail Fahmi Lubis, explores the inequality and systematic misinformation about the migrant communities in Taiwan;
Tank Fairy, directed by Erich Rettstadt, is a refreshing and unique queer story that won the Audience Award at SXSW and Short Film Competition Special Jury Award at Seattle International Film Festival in 2022;
Girl In The Water, a poetic and visceral animation by Huang Shi-Rou, drawn from her personal experience to explore the female consciousness;
Islander by Wu Zi-En, set in the future of Taiwan, is a stylish black-and-white political allegory;
and In Their Teens, directed by Lin Yu-En; winning Best Short Film at the 2021 Golden Horse Award, it documented the plight of young adulthood in rural Taiwan.
The winner of the Short Film Competition will be announced on 13 August. The festival’s full program will be available from late June. For more information, visit www.taiwanfilmfestival.org.au
