CLOSER links between Scotland and Taiwan are to be fostered through the staging of the first Taiwan film festival in Edinburgh next month.
Not only is it the first festival of its kind in Scotland but it will also be free to access after it was pivoted to a purely digital form as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic.
The September festival will feature 20 carefully selected films, most of which are difficult to come by in the UK, with 10 titles making their UK premiere.
“They will give people a good understanding of not only Taiwan’s rich history and culture but, most importantly, the societal changes over the past few decades and Taiwan’s place on the diverse map of south-east Asia,” said chief curator, Liu Kuan-ping.
“We hope this first Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh will also stimulate conversations between Taiwan and Scotland’s filmmakers and audiences about our respective cultures, a conversation we feel needs to be more robust.
“Taiwan’s rich cinema offer is still relatively hard to come by in the UK outside arthouse cinemas such as Edinburgh’s Filmhouse or Glasgow Film Theatre – our plan is to help improve that.”
Liu said she hoped physical screenings of Taiwanese cinema could be presented in Edinburgh later in the year but in the meantime was “extremely excited” about the digital event as there had been a global surge of interest in Taiwanese cinematography over the last decade.
“We hope this festival will help introduce some of the lesser known talent to wider audiences as it charts the fascinating journey of Taiwanese cinema from the 60s until now,” she said.
“From wuxia classics such as A City Called Dragon, through adaptations of romance novels by Chiung Yao, possibly the most influential writer of this genre in the Chinese-speaking world, to a selection of works by one of the most celebrated young filmmakers, Midi Z, the festival’s offer is truly comprehensive and diverse and certainly not only for film buffs.”
Dr Chen Pin-Chuan, director of the Taipei Representative Office in the UK’s cultural division said the festival would showcase the “diversity and harmony” of Taiwanese society to the audiences.
“The films shown will give a new perspective in terms of Taiwanese cinema and its history, as well as a broader understanding of Taiwanese culture in general and I hope that it will stimulate more conversations between Scotland and Taiwan regarding aspects of our respective cultures,” said Dr Chen.
Divided into seven strands with feature, documentary and short films, the festival will delve into the cultural, societal and political changes in Taiwan and the country’s relationship with its neighbours.
In collaboration with the Scottish Documentary Institute, Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh will also present a series of Q&As and panel discussions with filmmakers featured in the programme and invited guests.
Each of the titles presented as part of the festival will be available online for between seven and 10 days. Once granted their free access to a title, audiences will have five days to watch it and 30 hours playback time.
All films will be added to the festival’s website on September 4 for audiences to browse ahead of the grand opening on September 18.
The Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh is funded by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture with further support from Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute and Taiwan Cinema Toolkit. Festival Scope and Shift72 are also instrumental in launching it digitally.
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