"The 2020 Women Make Waves Film Festival, Taichung" will be on between November 6th and 29th at Zhongshan 73 Film and Arts Space. Because of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, the Festival has been especially planned under the theme of "Memory of the Future" to address to how people deal with and memorialize the past after the disaster and traumas. Films for both opening and closing ceremonies were selected from those of Taiwanese female directors and 44 films and 29 programs will be showcased constituting the highest number of participating films. Since November 1st, tickets will be available at the Zhongshan 73 Film and Arts Space and film lovers should not miss the opportunity!
The Information Bureau today (the 13th) held the press conference for the commencement of the 2000 Women Make Waves Film Festival, Taichung, Taichung and Deputy Director General, Chen Chia-Chun, said Mayor Lu Shiow-Yen focuses on the presentation of diverse issues by encouraging female film workers to continuously create and wish for the success of the Festival.
CEO of the Taichung Film Development Foundation (TFDF), Lin Ying-Chih, pointed out that five years in a row his Foundation has been working with the Women Make Waves Film Festival, Taichung, and this year, the Festival features the largest number of films and the longest play days. Issues covered are more diverse that those last year with the longest span. He expected that women film festivals can continuously inspire female film makers that were more likely to be forgotten by the past film history and allow more audiences to re-explore the film history.
The Curator of the Festivals, Lo Pei-Chia, said this year’s films played for the opening and closing ceremonies, demonstrated the Taiwanese women's vitality. The one for the opening ceremony, "The Running Man," directed by Tseng Wen-Chen, the winner of Director of Best Documentary Film of the Golden Horse Awards, led the audience to witness a group of migrant workers in Taiwan who are now changing the fate of themselves, their families and countries. The set for the closing ceremony includes three short films, "Tribe Map," "The Rising Sun" and "Family Formula" to let the audience get to know about female directors in Taiwan.
Curator Lo mentioned that this year’s focused figure is Kira Muratova (1934-2018) who was the most innovative and influential heavyweight female directors in the Soviet Union/Ukraine film history. These films are cooperative works with the Ukraine National Film Center. Due to the pandemic, the Center went bankrupt and shut down. To ensure that the Taiwanese audience is able to watch them and unveil the mysterious veil behind the forbidden films, the Organizer has worked with great efforts. Among these films, the prominent work, "The Asthenic Syndrome" (1989) filmed before the eve of dissolution of the Soviet Union won the Silver Bear at the 1990 Berlin Film Festival. A film that any film lover should not miss!
Director of "The Tribe Map" Sayun Simung shared her film creation process as a local Taichung citizen. She said she is an Atayal living in a mountain community and the Film is about the forced migration process of her community members who originally settled down in Wuling Farm. She hopes that through the film people will be more concerned of transitional justice of indigenous peoples.
According to the Bureau, 44 films (both long and short) and 29 programs will be showcased in this year’s Festival with the largest number of films participating. Once
"the Special Documentary Series for French Pioneer Female Directors" was lost but fortunately was found later. It was scheduled to play for the first time in this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The plan failed due to the pandemic. The Festival was honored to bring them to Taiwan. Among them, "Paris 1900" was the collaborative work with Alain Resnais featuring a unique sense of humor and critical views to lead the audience back to the glamorous and golden era of Paris.
Additionally, this year’s "Queer Reflexive Image," unlike the past years, features both contemporary and classic queer films transcending a period of 100 years to inspire the audience to think about the future. Among them, "Salomé "(1923) has been known as the pioneer of feminism films and one of the art films first made in the US. The highly stylized costumes, exaggerated acting, minimum sets and individual heightened desires punctuate the avant-garde image.
"The 2020 Women Make Waves Film Festival (WMWFF), Taichung" will be on between November 6th and 29th at Zhongshan 73 Film and Arts Space. Events including film guides and seminars before and after the films are played are planned. Tickets will be available from November 1st at the Zhongshan 73 Film and Arts Space. For more information, please visit the official website (www.wmw.org.tw/)or Facebook page (facebook.com/wmwff/) of the Festival or Facebook fanpage of Zhonghsan (facebook.com/TCZS73).
Attendees to today’s press conference included, Deputy Director General of Information Bureau, Chen Chia-Chu, Curator of the Festival, Lo Pei-Chia, CEO of TFDF, Lin Ying-Chih, Director of Taiwanese film, "Tribe Map," Sayun Simung as well as Councilman Huang Hsin-Hui and office representative of Councilman Ran Ling-Hsuan to declare the beginning of promotional events of the Festival.