After two years of doing all the Q&As and panel discussions online, The 5th Taiwan Film Festival in Australia is bringing in a plethora of international filmmakers and guests to Sydney and Melbourne for the very first time.
The festival is honoured to have Director-scriptwriter Lou Yi-An and actress Huang Pei-Jia coming to the festival for GODDAMNED ASURA (2021) post-screening Q&A on 28 July at Sydney Event Cinemas George St and 30 July at Melbourne Village Cinemas Jam Factory.
Director Lou rose to prominence with his debut feature A PLACE OF ONE’S OWN (2009) winning several awards at Taipei Film Festival including Best Art Design. Devoting himself in screenwriting and passionate to tell a story about the marginalised people in society, Lou cleverly uses drama and psychological-thrillers elements to emphasise the message; his works include THE LOSERS (2013) and WHITE LIES, BLACK LIES (2016). GODDAMNED ASURA (2021) is his fourth feature, nominated for 9 categories at this year’s Taipei Film Awards including Best Director, and will surely capture the audience with its multi-narrative storytelling and extraordinary insights into social issues.
Award-winning actress Huang Pei-Jia, has worked on numerous works including DRIFITING FLOWERS (2008) directed by Zero Chou and tv-series HEAEN ON THE 4TH FLOOR (2021) directed by Singing Chen. Huang started her career as a dancer but branched out into acting in 2008, her talent has brought her many nominations at Taipei Film Festival and Golden Bell Awards.
GREEN JAIL (2021), documentary filmmaker Huang Yin-Yu, who also founded the production company Moonlin in Japan, will also be joining the festival for a post-screening Q&A on 30 July at 2 PM at Event Cinemas George St. Huang’s first documentary AFTER SPRING, THE TAMAKI FAMILY…(2016) was selected for DMZ International Documentary Film Festival and nominated for Best Documentary at Taipei Film Awards in 2016. GREEN JAIL is his second feature-length documentary combined with experimental elements and intimate observation of Grandma Hashima’s life.
The festival is also excited to be welcoming international speakers to attend the festival’s very first in-person panel discussion event Industry Circle: Production, Scriptwriting and International Partnership, co-hosting with the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), on 30 July at 12.30 PM at Event Cinemas George St. The event will be free to attend but registration is required.
The panel discussion speakers will include GODDAMNED ASURA director-scriptwriter Lou Yi-An; GREEN JAIL director Huang Yin-Yu; TAICCA Director of Global Business Zoe Wang, who was the former licensing director for Spotify with more than 20 years of experience in the music industry in Asia; TAICCA Content Lab Specialist Jennifer Huang, who has many years of experience in licensing and project management; Sydney Film School founder and director-writer Ben Ferris whose works include the feature drama-documentary 57 LAWSON (2016) that was named in 2018 as one of the “top 5 films” by the Sydney Morning Herald and given 4/4 stars by The Age, and his first feature film PENELOPA (2009), premiered in official competition at the 56th Pula Film Festival in Croatia and won Best Fantasy Feature Film at Amsterdam Film Festiva in 2010.
The panel discussion will be hosted by ABDU Podcast host Helen Stenbeck and producer and director Ana Tiwary who started the production company indiVisual films. Ana co-produced the first Asian-Australian rom-com RHAPSODY OF LOVE (2021) and she recently produced the series iNDIA NOW! for ABC TV.
For all emerging filmmakers who are passionate to learn more about the production process and scriptwriting, don’t miss out on this fantastic panel discussion and take advantage of the opportunity to network with other industry professionals.
Register now at https://www.taiwanfilmfestival.org.au/events/industrycircle
