Plots(1)
Inititated by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, twenty outstanding Taiwanese directors were each asked to create one five-minute short film inspired by the same topic: the uniqueness of their country.
The resulting stories and documentaries, which did not have to adhere to any kind of dictates, either formally or in terms of content, provide an astonishingly multifaceted panorama of Taiwanese society. The filmmakers' personal perspectives span a wide-ranging network of images, between historical events and political vigilance, rebellion and devotion, magical realism and unflinching illusion. The diverse cinematic approaches used by these cineastes open a window onto their own imagination – whether they choose to employ an epistolary form, or a monologue, to include elements of a thriller, silent cinema, theatre of the absurd or dark comedy, or simply to observe carefully with a camera.
Hou Hsiao-Hsien, one of the leading proponents of Taiwanese new wave cinema, opens and closes this portmanteau film with his minimalistic tale LA BELLE ÉPOQUE which focuses on the primal cell of any society – the family unit. An unusual film project that gives us an impressive array of food for thought.
(Berlinale)
Cast
Lun-Mei Kwai
Taiwan
Best movies:
Secret (2007)
Ocean Heaven (2010)
Starry Starry Night (2011)
Qi Shu
Taiwan
Best movies:
My Wife Is a Gangster 3 (2006)
The Transporter (2002)
If You Are the One (2008)
Jack Kao
Taiwan
Best movies:
Goodbye South Goodbye (1996)
Unbeatable (2013)
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Yi-Ching Lu
Taiwan
Best movies:
Vive L'Amour (1994)
Rebels of the Neon God (1992)
The River (1997)
Leon Dai
Taiwan
Best movies:
The Great Buddha + (2017)
Reign of Assassins (2010)
The Name Engraved in Your Heart (2020)
Joseph Chang
Taiwan
Best movies:
Eternal Summer (2006)
The Village of No Return (2017)
Love You (2011) (series)
Lawrence Ko
Taiwan
Best movies:
Extravagant Challenge (2011) (series)
Dust in the Wind (1986)
Yi Yi (2000)
Lieh Lee
Taiwan
Best movies:
Zone Pro Site (2013)
Starry Starry Night (2011)
The Most Distant Course (2007)
Shao-Huai Chang
Taiwan
Best movies:
Extravagant Challenge (2011) (series)
The Great Buddha + (2017)
One Mile Above (2011)
Nikki Hsieh
Taiwan
Best movies:
When Wolf Falls in Love with Sheep (2012)
It Started with a Kiss (2005) (series)
The Scoundrels (2018)
Zaizai Lin
Taiwan
Best movies:
Taipei Exchanges (2010)
Matt Chung-tien Wu
Best movies:
Reign of Assassins (2010)
The Fatality (2008)
Chien-wei Huang
Taiwan
Best movies:
Life of Pi (2012)
Spider Lilies (2007)
Silk (2006)
Chieh Chang
Taiwan
Best movies:
Spider Lilies (2007)
The Missing (2003)
Yi-Chiao Liao
Taiwan
I-Chen Ko
Taiwan
Best movies:
Zone Pro Site (2013)
Life of Pi (2012)
Nolay Piho
Taiwan
Best movies:
Peggy Tseng
Taiwan
Best movies:
Bull Fighting (2008) (series)
When Wolf Falls in Love with Sheep (2012)
The Laundryman (2015)
David Hsun-Wei Chang
Taiwan
Best movies:
Secret (2007)