The Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa, in conjunction with the Office for International Affairs of the University of the Free State, will launch the Taiwanese Film Festival at the Free State University (Albert Wessels Auditorium), on Friday 12 August at 6pm.
This prestigious event is held under the auspices of the Chongwa Culture and Education Foundation. A Chinese music concert will precede the viewing of the legendary and acclaimed director Ang Lee’s, Eat Drink, Man Woman. The films tells the story of a senior chef who lives with his three grown daughters and how unexpected events changes things for the entire household. It is an endearing family drama that examines food as not only physical sustenance but spiritual sustenance as well.
Another film to be screened during the festival is much in the vein of gangster chronicles, as the title Gangster Rock suggests. There is also a film that narrates the tale of a father who is in danger of losing his daughter because of his life as a vagrant, while Zoom Hunting is more of a mystery film.
Cape No.7 is something of a historical drama that tells the story of Japanese Colonisation and love from a post colonial perspective. A documentary on woman in Taiwan coincides with Women’s Month in South Africa (August).
The festival celebrates Taiwan’s film industry, which has been through some tough patches, but has proved remarkably resilient and is gradually turning over a new leaf. As the world becomes a global village, these festival films reflect this and the ever dynamic, but age old condition of what it is to be human – cutting across all barriers of race, class, culture and continent.
