聽說
Drama, Romance
Mandarin, English and Czech subtitles
Director: Cheng Fenfen
Starring: Ivy Chen, Eddie Peng, Michelle Chen
Distributor: Trigram Films

Hear me proves that even a well-established genre of romantic comedy may become a space for experimenting, in this particular case, experimenting with spoken language, or rather its absence. Director and screenplay writer Cheng Fenfen together with producer Peggy Chiao raise the issue of whether it is possible to shoot a film about the hearing-impaired using a sign language and still communicate to the audience strong emotions of romantic love. The limited use of a spoken language does not, in any way, handicap the love story, quite the contrary! The classical rom-com concept filled with speeches, cries and wordy expressions of love is here replaced with silent glances and gentle gestures. It is silence where the sensitivity of the filmmakers’ approach is most apparent. All the more combined with specifically Taiwanese physical comedy and overly expressive acting style of the main duo – superstar Eddie Peng as Tian-Kuo, a delivery boy in a family-run restaurant, and hearing-impaired Yang Yang played by the talented Ivy Chen. They also made it possible for Hear me to make a unique journey within the genre of melodrama practically without words. There’s no love like quiet love!

我的少女時代
Comedy, Romance
Mandarin, English and Czech subtitles
Director: Chen Yu-shan
Starring: Vivian Sung, Darren Wang, Dino Lee
Distributor: The Spring Thunder Entertainment Co.,、Hualien Media International Co., Ltd.、Huace Pictures Co., Ltd.、Focus Film Limited 

Since one of the festival sections is dedicated to Taiwanese women filmmakers, TV veteran Frankie Chen could hardly go unmentioned. Our Times was her directorial debut, but she had already worked on more than a dozen vastly successful television dramas. In cooperation with screenplay writer Sabrina Tseng, they took their changes on the big screen and once again succeeded. In our selection she represents a versatile female author who has established herself in Taiwanese culture across various formats and media. In Our Times she introduces the story of Lin, an unhappy girl who often buries herself in memories in a quest to get away from the present. The issue of escapism plays a central part in this comedy-drama, but it, at the same time, unfolds an emotional search for a long-lost love. The narrative takes place in two time lines that complement each other and each has its own rhythm, whereas the narrative taking place in the past makes great use of the aesthetic of the 1990’s.

宜蘭在遠方
Documentary Short
Mandarin, English and Czech subtitles
Director: MoMo Tseng Hsing Ying

When chef Andoni and his colleagues take a trip to Yilan to attend a forum, they do not expect much. As specialists in Basque cuisine, they simply want to share their experience with others. But the Taiwanese region quickly captivates them. They become mesmerized with picking fresh tea leaves, morning marketplaces filled with local produce and unexpected culinary discoveries. The parallels between Basque and Yilan cuisines are apparent both in techniques, traditions, and cultural identity. Talented documentary filmmaker MoMo Tseng made a document about food, international collection of flavours, traditions and identities. No matter where you live, this film will make you understand what a taste of home is.