The 5th Taiwan Film Festival in Australia, from 28 July to 13 August 2022, has officially wrapped with four final screenings at National Film and Sound Archived in Canberra last Saturday.
For the first time, the festival expands across four cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, with more than 30 cinema screenings and six sold-out sessions, bringing thousands of audiences to the cinema: It’s the biggest and most successful year ever. Plenty of special international guests came from Taiwan, including GODDAMNED ASURA director Lou Yi-An, actress Huang Pei-Jia, and GREEN JAIL director Huang Yin-Yu.
The festival would like to acknowledge the support and partnership with the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Australia and co-presenting partner Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), as well as the support of Create NSW, City of Sydney, Spotlight Taiwan, TECO in Sydney, Multicultural NSW and Screen Queensland, for allowing the festival to expand to other cities and bring more diverse screen contents in Australia for everyone to enjoy.
This year’s sponsorship partners include hotel partner Yeh’s Group, education partner Australia Taiwanese Friendship Association, legal advisor Murdock Cheng Legal Practice, catering partner Ommi’s Food & Catering and media partners TV Media and Australia Chinese Daily; and generous sponsors Ettasons Pty Ltd, TECO Pty Ltd, Bluechip, Bank of Taiwan, E. Sun Bank, Mega Bank, CTBC, Taipei Fubon Bank, Phone Inc, and Transco Electrical.
“We are so grateful for every single audience who came and supported the festival, especially those who bought the flexipass and hardcore pass; each conversation with you all after each session is what makes the festival so special,” said Festival Director Benson Wu, “And of course most importantly, we would like to thanks the team and volunteers who make the festival possible to run so smoothly in each city this year.”
Congratulation to GIRL IN THE WATER by Huang Shi-Ro for winning this year’s Short Film Competition, supported by TAICCA; other finalists are ISLANDER by Wu Zi-En, HOMEBOUND by Ismail Fahmi Lubis, TANK FAIRY by Erich Rettstadt, and IN THEIR TEENS by Lin Yu-En. This year’s competition juries include cinematographer Matthew Chuang (YOU WON’T BE ALONE, OF AN AGE), actress Wang Yu-Xuan (GODDAMNED ASURA), and acclaimed film critic from Taiwan Cheng Pinhung.
“GIRL IN THE WATER is deeply personal, honest and open. Incredibly beautiful and moving.” said Matthew Chuang.
“GIRL IN THE WATER presented a very detailed and delicate angle towards the trauma and recovery with a unique interpretation.” said Cheng Pinhugn.
Another highlight of this year’s festival is, for the very first time, the festival held an in-person international panel discussion, Industry Circle: Production, Screenwriting & International Partnership, with a stunning panellists line-up including TAICCA Director of Global Business Zoe Wang, TAICCA Content Lab Specialist Jennifer Huang, multi-award-winning film and television Producer Kylie du Fresne, 6 FESTIVALS Producer Michael Wrenn, GODDAMNED ASURA Director-scriptwriter Lou Yi-An, GREEN JAIL director Huang Yin-Yu, Sydney Film School founder and IN(DI)VISIBLE Director-writer Ben Ferris. The panel discussion aims to increase co-production projects and share the filmmaker’s knowledge of the filmmaking process in Taiwan and Australia.
Lastly, the festival would like to thank the local presenting partners, Melbourne Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce, Australian Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce (QLD), and the communities’ supporters, including Sydney Film Festival, Queer Screen, Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Antenna Documentary Film Festival and Kinokuniya Bookstore.
