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Thursday, May 21, 2015

RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS @ Singapore Chinese Film Festival 2015 + Films I caught at the festival

Has there not been update on this blog for that long?

It happens, when you are buried with work.

A month ago, RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS was shown at the Singapore Chinese Film Festival.

At the very same festival, I was able to meet Taiwanese directors like the legendary Li Hsing (considered a godfather of Taiwanese cinema), the influential Wan Jen (of the Taiwan New Cinema, a contemporary of Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang's), and the much respected Yang Li-Chou (whose critically and commercially successful documentaries opened the way for Taiwanese documentaries to be shown in their cinemas).










I was very grateful that I had relatives and old classmates from primary and high school attending my screening. Meant a lot to me, even if I was unable to articulate them into words. Only thank you.





Now, aside from my own screenings, the beauty of film festivals is being able to catch great films.

The first night of the fest, I caught Yang Li-Chou's THE MOMENT - FIFTY YEARS OF GOLDEN HORSE, an exquisite documentary that covers fifty years of the Golden Horse Awards (known as the Chinese Oscars) and the sociopolitical situation in the region that shaped its cinema. It inspired me a lot for the documentary that I am now shooting.


The following day, after my own screening, I caught Wan Jen's latest film, the comedy IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO. A departure of style from his previous works.


And finally, Chenn Hsiang's directorial debut, EXIT 迴光奏鳴曲. Chen Shiang-chyi, who had been in most of Tsai Ming-Liang's films, won Best Actress at last year's Golden Horse Awards. It's unsurprising, she carried the entire film by herself.

Chenn Hsiang, by the way, is the great cinematographer of one of my favourite Taiwanese films of all time, BLUE GATE CROSSING. Tis a photo I took with him in Taipei back in 2011.

I also wanted to catch RUBBERS by Han Yew Kwang, whom I had the pleasure to meet at the Network of Asian Fantastic Films in Bucheon Film Festival. Alas, my time in Singapore was too short, and at that time, the film had yet to show. Nonetheless, I still like this photo very much.