Sep 24, 2013
SFFILM
The San Francisco Film Society will present the fifth annual Taiwan Film Days,November 1-3 at the Vogue Theatre (3290 Sacramento Street), in association with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco. This exciting series focuses on the best of contemporary Taiwanese cinema and provides Bay Area audiences with unique opportunities to view bold new Taiwanese films and engage with visionary filmmakers. Taiwan Film Days is an essential part of the Film Society’s Fall Season and a cinematic highlight for the local Chinese-speaking community and adventurous cinephiles of all stripes.
“Without a doubt this year’s Taiwan Film Days will be the most eclectic yet,” said SFFS Programmer Sean Uyehara. “This year’s program includes films that have been celebrated internationally at film festivals such as Cannes, Toronto and Locarno and a number of huge Taipei crowd favorites, and I am excited to see how this program feels to SF audiences. On a personal note, I am most grateful to TECO and especially Manfred Peng and Janet Chang who have helped us to realize our fifth installment of Taiwan Film Days.”
The San Francisco Film Society has long been a proponent of Taiwanese cinema and has played a pioneering role in introducing it to Bay Area audiences through the San Francisco International Film Festival, which has shown over 45 Taiwanese films over the years. Works of leading figures-Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang and Edward Yang-have been featured, and prominent actor Lee Kang-sheng was a Festival guest in 1998. In January 1999 the Film Society partnered with the Asian Art Museum to present the unique retrospective An Unfolding Horizon: the Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien.
Taiwan Film Days kicks off in proper fashion with the crowd-pleasing culinary film Zone Pro Site: The Moveable Feast and continues with offerings in a variety of genres including epic period drama Ripples of Desire, violent thriller Soul (a hit at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival) and an entertaining girl-meets-boy tale in Apolitical Romance. TFD 2013 features a number of exciting U.S. premieres, including international coproduction Taipei Factory, which pairs up emerging filmmakers to collaborate on innovative examinations of urban space, resulting in a rousing display of fresh talent.
For complete program information visit sffs.org/Exhibition/Fall-Season.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1
6:30 pm Zone Pro Site: The Moveable Feast OPENING NIGHT FILM
Chen Yu-hsun (Chong pu shih, Taiwan 2013)
A “zone pro site” is a catering chef who shows up at an outdoor banquet with nothing but his cooking utensils, and comes up with a menu on the spot based on the banquet’s theme and the ingredients provided. He is the original “Iron Chef.” This fictional fantasy focuses on several such struggling chefs as they develop recipes, rivalries and romances, culminating in a national cooking contest. Mixing food porn with slapstick humor, this film contains flying knives, weird dancing, gangsters, feminism and open displays of bravado. Reminiscent of the classic food filmTampopo, Zone Pro Site will leave you laughing and hungry. Written by Chen Yu-hsun. Cinematography by Chienn Hsiang. With Lin Mei-hsiu, Yang Yo-ling, Kimi Hsia. 145 min. In Mandarin and Taiwanese with subtitles. Print provided by Ablaze Image.
9:30 pm Opening Night party with delicious hors d’oeuvres and wine at Paul Mahder Gallery (3378 Sacramento St.)
9:30 pm Zone Pro Site: The Moveable Feast
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2
2:00 pm A Time in Quchi
Chang Tso-chi (Shu jia zuo ye, Taiwan 2013)
When Bao is left with his grandfather in Quchi (a rural outpost of Taipei) for the summer, he struggles with the withdrawal of disconnecting from the bustle, media and other children of his usual day-to-day. His coming-of-age takes hold when he finds ways to occupy himself and feed his creative mind. As he becomes accustomed to new experiences and the underlying quiet, Bao begins to know himself. Told with wry humor and heartfelt twists, A Time in Quchi has drawn favorable comparisons to Hou Hsiao-hsien’s classic film A Summer at Grandpa’s and was a standout at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. Written by Chang Tso-chi. Cinematography by Jacky Chen, Shu Chih-chun, Yuan Ching-kuo. With Yang Liang-yu, Kuan Yun-loong, Wen Hui-ming, Jin Zi-yan. 109 min. In Mandarin and Taiwanese with subtitles. Print provided by Swallow Wings Films.
4:15 pm Taipei Factory North American Premiere
Singing Chen, Chang Jung-chi, Luis Cifuentes, Alireza Khatami, Shen Ko-shang, Joana Preiss, Jéro Yun, Midi Z (Tai pei kong chang, Taiwan 2013)
Produced through a joint project between the Cannes Film Festival’s Director’s Fortnight and the Taipei Film Commission aimed at developing emergent filmmaking talent, Taipei Factory consists of four 15-20 minute films. Each work is a collaborative effort by two directors, one Taiwanese and one international, with representatives from Chile, France, Iran and South Korea. Meeting for the first time in Taipei, the eight directors shared their life experiences, formed pairs and cowrote and codirected their four contributions based on their shared impressions and imaginations of a city, creating innovative narratives, docudramas and experimental works. Written and cinematography by Singing Chen, Chang Jung-chi, Luis Cifuentes, Alireza Khatami, Shen Ko-shang, Joana Preiss, Jéro Yun, Midi Z. 71 min. Print provided by Ramonda Inc.
6:00 pm Forever Love North American Premiere
Aozaru Shiao, Kitamura Toyoharu (A ma de mong chun ching ren, Taiwan 2013)
Brimming with homages to classic genre films of the 1930s, Forever Love celebrates a bygone era of innocence, elegance and indulgence. Growing up in Taiwan’s Beitou district, Hsiao-Jie is skeptical of her grandparents’ stories of the district’s historic past. Each elder makes extravagant claims to fame in this once–great “Hollywood in Taiwan”–grandfather was the era’s most famous screenwriter, grandmother the period’s greatest actress-and Hsiao-Jie does not understand how they can be so stuck in the past until the day her grandfather reveals the legendary love story that took place in this Taiwanese Hollywood. Written by Lin Chen-hao. Cinematography by Patrick Chou. With Long Shao-hua, Lang Chen-long, Amber An, Tien Hsin. 124 min. In Mandarin and Taiwanese with subtitles. Print provided by Double Edge Entertainment.
9:00 pm Soul
Chung Mong-hong (Shi huen, Taiwan 2013)
One of the contenders for the 2014 foreign-language Academy Award, Soul is an eerie, sometimes bloody thriller that circles around a strange question: “Who inhabits this man’s body?” Following a physical collapse, A-Chuan is released from the hospital into his father’s care and taken to his home in the mountains. It soon becomes clear that A-Chuan is deeply disturbed, stating unnervingly, “I saw this body was empty, so I moved in…” Thus begins a descent into violence, psychological torment and ultimately, possession. Who or what controls A-Chuan, and what is the responsibility of those around him to flush it out or stop it? Written by Chung Mong-hong. Cinematography by Nagao Nakashima (Chung Mong-hong). With Jimmy Wong, Joseph Chang. 112 min. In Mandarin with subtitles. Print provided by iFilm.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3
1:30 pm Taipei Factory see 11/2
3:15 pm Ripples of Desire
Zero Chou (Hua yang, Taiwan/China 2012)
Teeming with pirates and lepers, Drift Island may at first seem like an unlikely environment for a feminist romantic yarn. But, director Zero Chou’s new period piece set in the 17th century Ming Dynasty is full of surprises. Sisters and courtesans White Snow (Michelle Chen, You are the Apple of My Eye, TFD 2012) and White Frost (Ivy Chen, Hear Me, TFD 2012) enchant every visitor to Madame Moon’s Flower House with their smoky music and dance numbers. When one of their costumers questions them about the status of women on the island, she sets the stage for star-crossed love, kidnapping and betrayal. Written by Zero Chou. Cinematography by Hoho Liu. With Ivy Chen, Jerry Yen, Michelle Chen, Joseph Cheng, Li Xiaoran. 122 min. In Mandarin and Taiwanese with subtitles. Print provided by Serenity Entertainment International.
6:00 pm Apolitical Romance North American Premiere
Hsieh Chun-yi (Dui mien de nu hai sha guo lai, Taiwan 2013)
Brash, funny and insightful, Apolitical Romance opens with A-Zheng, a young, slacker-ish bureaucrat at Taiwanese civil affairs. Charged with producing a manual on Taiwanese-Chinese cross-cultural etiquette, he quickly finds himself in over his head–he hasn’t the slightest idea of mainland Chinese customs. With hope waning, he meets a hip young woman from Beijing who will help him write his manual in exchange for a favor–she has to find her grandmother’s lost lover after losing a bet-and their uneasy partnership gives way to a series of errors and surprises. Written by Lyra Fu, Hsieh Chun-yi, Zhu Yi. Cinematography by Jordan Schiele. With Chang Shu-hao, Huang Lu. 90 min. In Mandarin with subtitles. Print provided by iFilm.
8:30 pm When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep
Hou Chi-jan (Nan fang xiao yang mu chang, Taiwan 2012)
This Taiwanese pop fable presents burgeoning love amidst anonymous notes, animated doodles and community organizing. When Tung awakes to read the post-it note affixed to his forehead, he learns he’s been dumped by his girlfriend, who is changing her life by enrolling in a high-pressure “cram” school. Intent on winning her back, Tung takes a job printing exams for the school at a local copy shop. When he becomes intrigued by the drawings he finds on the exams, he starts to leave a few of his own, beginning what becomes a breathless series of unusual “pen pal” adventures. Written by Hou Chi-jan, Kelly Yang, Ho Hsin-ming, Autumn Chen. Cinematography by Patrick Chen. With Kai Ko, Chien Man-shu, Tsai Chen-nan, Kuo Shu-yau, Nikki Hsieh. 85 min. In Mandarin with subtitles. Distributed by China Lion Film Distribution.
Film tickets $12 for SFFS members, $14 general, $13 seniors, students and persons with disabilities, $10 children (12 and under); Opening Night film and party tickets $20 for SFFS members, $25 general; Fall Season CineVoucher 10-Packs $110 for SFFS members, $130 general. Box office opens September 24 for members and September 26 for the general public online at sffs.org.
Taiwan Film Days is sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture; Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau; the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco; airline sponsor EVA Air; the Laurel Inn; opening night party sponsors Paul Mahder Gallery and Salt and Honey Catering; and media partners SF Weekly, San Francisco Bay Guardian and San Francisco Examiner.
To request screeners and interviews contact bproctor@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit: sffs.org/pressdownloads.