Taipei Cultural Center in New York

The Taipei Cultural Center, in collaboration with Anthology Film Archives, is pleased to present a series of films titled “The Film of Hsin Chi (辛奇)” from November 11 to November 30, streaming on Vimeo free of charge.

The series showcases five films directed by Hsin Chi from 1965 to 1969, including THE BRIDE WHO HAS RETURNED FROM HELL (地獄新娘), ENCOUNTER AT THE STATION (難忘的車站), FOOLISH BRIDE, NAIVE BRIDEGROOM ( 三八新娘憨子婿), DANGEROUS YOUTH (危險的青春), and THE RICE DUMPLING VENDORS (燒肉粽). These films incorporate elements of horror thrillers, family dramas, romantic comedies, and social critiques, reflecting the thematic diversity of cinema from the era.

According to the Taipei Cultural Center, the 1950s are known as the glory days for Taiwanese-dialect films (Taiyu Pian (臺語片)). An average of over 100 Taiwanese-dialect films were released in Taiwan every year, and the country was recognized by UNESCO as producing the third most films in that era, behind only Japan and India. In presenting these films, the Taipei Cultural Center and Anthology Film Archives hope to help rebuild the post-war cultural history of Taiwan.

Anthology Film Archives was founded in 1970 by Jonas Mekas, with a special focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema. Anthology Films Archives screens more than 900 programs annually and preserves more than 800 films. For more information, please visit the following website: http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/.

Photos courtesy of the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI)

THE BRIDE WHO HAS RETURNED FROM HELL (地獄新娘)
1965, 117 min, 35mm-to-digital
BEI Sui-mi becomes the new tutor for the WANG family in a bid to secretly investigate the death of her sister. Meanwhile, she tries to mend the father-daughter relationship between her niece and Mr. WANG. After a series of hauntings occur in the house, Sui-mi discovers her sister’s diary and comes closer to the truth behind her death. Gradually, Sui-mi and Mr. WANG fall in love, but on the eve of their wedding, the killer appears. An adaptation of the Gothic romance “Mistress of Mellyn (米蘭夫人)”, THE BRIDE WHO HAS RETURNED FROM HELL is aesthetically expressionistic, and the creative mise-en-scène showcases the quality of Taiwanese-language productions. While integrating modern elements such as suspense and murder, the story reflects a feudal context. Though westernized at times, it remains traditional at heart, creating subtle but fascinating contradictions between the portrayal of modern women and the patriarchy which shadows them.
 
ENCOUNTER AT THE STATION (難忘的車站 )
1965, 112 min, 35mm-to-digital
Tshui-giok’s (翠玉) stepfather sells her to a club to pay off his debt. But when her boyfriend, Kok liong (國良), learns about it, he helps her escape and plans to marry her. However, Kok-liong’s mother disapproves and arranges for him to marry a wealthy girl. Years later, when Kok-liong and Tshui-giok meet again, their feelings are rekindled. ENCOUNTER AT THE STATION is adapted from CHIN Hsing-chi’s popular novel “Leng Nuan Jen Chien (冷暖人間),” though its wartime atmosphere and female protagonist’s personal struggles are removed to focus on the love triangle in order to depict a family melodrama. Told from an omniscient point of view, the film not only boasts a well-executed narrative, a gripping storyline, and strong emotions, but also reshapes its characters to adapt to its form of visual storytelling, placing it at the pinnacle of the Taiwanese-language family melodrama genre.
 
FOOLISH BRIDE, NAIVE BRIDEGROOM ( 三八新娘憨子婿)
1967, 101 min, 35mm-to-digital
“Bun-tik (文德)” is a naïve, dopey young man who is aggressively chased by the women in his town, all of whom are strangely enamored with him. He is closely guarded by his father, A-kau (阿狗), who throws water at the girls to discourage them from courting Bun-tik. Bun-tik is only interested in one girl, the intrepid and mischievous Kui-ki (桂枝), a modern woman in the context of 1960s Taiwan, when conservative family values and traditional beliefs governed much of societal activity. One day, Bun-tik’s father and Kui-ki’s mother meet to discuss the possibility of the two young lovers getting married, but discover that they themselves were lovers 30 years ago. Both feeling scorned and blaming each other for the past, they oppose the marriage. Disregarding their parents’ wishes and tradition in general, Kui-ki and Bun-tik decide to elope. Eventually, their parents come to forgive them and accept the union, opening the door once again to their own past as well.” –TAIWAN FILM FESTIVAL EDINBURGH (英國愛丁堡國際影展臺灣電影網)
 
DANGEROUS YOUTH (危險的青春)
1969, 95 min, 35mm-to-digital
Khue-guan (魁元), a deliveryman living in a cheap apartment, dreams of making it big one day. He happens upon a teenage runaway, Tsing-bi (晴美), and entices her to work at a nightclub to make money for him. Meanwhile, the nightclub hostess, Giok-sian (玉蟬), pays for Khue-guan’s company but has no emotional attachment to him. When Tsing-bi becomes pregnant with Khue-guan’s child, she asks him to marry her but is coldly rejected. Khue-guan proposes to Giok-sian only to be sneered at. Faced with a choice between love and money, Khue-guan must decide what he wants. Through the relationships between a prostitute, a pimp, and a procuress, the film presents a vision of capitalist society in moral decay.

THE RICE DUMPLING VENDORS ( 燒肉粽 )
1969, 84 min, 35mm-to-digital
Tsi-bing (志明) is living a wealthy and successful life. However, when he is manipulated by his mistress into believing that his wife is having an affair, he throws her out of the house. When his mistress vanishes with all his money, Tsi-bing is forced to relocate to a makeshift home with his three children, who take on various jobs such as selling rice dumplings to make ends meet. Will this unfortunate family be reunited one day? The story centers on a man who loses his social and economic status but manages to regain his place in his family through sacrifices, an experience usually assigned to the female protagonists of melodramas. Unlike the prevalent female-centric melodramas of the time, this male-centric narrative was recognized as part of a subgenre of Taiwanese-language melodrama. The depictions of a powerful male figure losing his status before eventually turning his fortunes around, and of a woman who is able to support herself after leaving home, represent the shifting attitudes of the late 1960s.

The 25th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (TRAIF) will take place virtually from November 10 to November 19. Two Taiwanese films that received best picture awards, MY MISSING VALENTINE (消失的情人節, recipient of the 57th Golden Horse Award) and TAIPEI SUICIDE STORY (安眠旅舍, recipient of the 27th Slamdance Award), will be available online throughout the duration of the festival.

The festival will present 81 total films, including features and shorts from around the world. Along with Taiwanese films, films from Canada, the US, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Pakistan, India, and Norway will also be presented.

MY MISSING VALENTINE, directed by Chen Yu-Hsun (陳玉勳), is a fantasy romance set in a rural county. Post office teller Yang Hsiao-Chi (Patty Lee, 李霈瑜) has never been an ordinary girl: she is always one step ahead of everyone else. With Valentine's Day approaching, Hsiao-chi's feeling anxious about finding someone. When she lands a dream date, she goes to bed looking forward to Valentine's Day, but to her surprise and disappointment, she wakes up on February 15. Luckily, A-tai (Liu Kuan-ting, 劉冠廷 ), the bus driver who is always one step slower than everyone else, holds the answer to her problems.

TAIPEI SUICIDE STORY, directed by KEEF (王凱民), is set in a society different than our own, at a hotel in Taipei that welcomes suicidal people and assists them in committing the act by providing several methods which they can choose from. Over the course of one night, a receptionist (Tender Huang, 黃騰浩) begins to defy the rules and develops an unusual friendship with a hotel guest (Vivian Sung, 宋芸樺) who can't make up her mind on whether she wants to live or die.

This year’s title for the festival’s Ideas Conference is “Here in The Future Past,” as the festival wishes to use the energy of the community to reminisce while maintaining an eye towards the future. Gathering industry professionals, filmmakers, performers, media artists, programmers, and curators, this conference reflects on racialized filmmaking, the function of art in a time of crisis, working in other mediums, and children's programming.

TRAIF is one of the most important Asian film festivals in Canada, and the Taipei Culture Center in New York is pleased to partner with TRAIF to present Taiwanese cinema. Since 2005, 2-3 Taiwanese films have been presented at TRAIF every year.
For more information, please visit the following website: https://www.reelasian.com/festival/.

Photos courtesy of the 25th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (TRAIF)

Taipei Cultural Center in New York is very pleased to announce that Taiwanese curator; Erica Yu-Wen Huang starts her residency program, International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in October in Brooklyn. She is one of a few Taiwanese artists joins the program since ISCP begins reopening to resident artists in March. Twice a year only, ISCP Open Studios offers the public access to private artists’ and curators’ studios to view artwork and share one-on-one conversations. Erica Yu-Wen Huang will join with other 33 artists and curators from 26 countries currently in residence to present their interests of research and creation.

Taiwanese curator, Erica Yu-Wen Huang holds a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from University of Leicester, United Kingdom. Formerly Curator of Exhibition and Learning at Centre for Heritage, Arts & Textile (CHAT), Hong Kong and Guest Lecturer of Applied Art Institute at National Chiao-Tung University (Taiwan), Huang is an independent curator based in Taipei. Her curatorial research focuses on the hybrid culture, migration history, geopolitics, and the dynamic among nature, human being and environment. Recent curatorial projects include The World is yet to Come, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (2021), Post-Anthropocene – 2020 Taiwan Biennial collateral exhibition (co-curated with Andre Chan), Zit-Dim Art Space, Tainan (2020), Sea Views - We Meet at the Seaside, Finland (2019) and Keelung Nights - Nordic Lights (co-curated with Nina-Maria Oförsagd), Taiwan (2017). Huang has partook in residencies at International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York (2020), Turner Galleries, Perth, Australia (2017), Curatorial Fellowship in Gwangju Museum of Art, South Korea (2017) and La Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France (2016-2017).

Open Studios participating artists and curators: Hana Al-Saadi (Qatar), Chris Andrews (Canada), Svetlana Bailey (United States/Australia/Germany/Russia), James Beckett (South Africa/The Netherlands), Maja Bekan (The Netherlands/Serbia), Marie-Michelle Deschamps (Canada), Chun Hua Catherine Dong (Canada), Carlos Franco (Puerto Rico), Moko Fukuyama (United States/Japan), Baris Gokturk (Turkey/United States), Wieteke Heldens (United States/The Netherlands), Erica Yu-Wen Huang (Taiwan), Anthony Iacono (United States), Silas Inoue (Denmark), Valentýna Janů (Czech Republic), Sam Keogh (Ireland), Kim Kielhofner (Canada), Conny Karlsson Lundgren (Sweden), Chase Middleton (Australia), Marie Nerland (Norway), Daniel Neumann (United States/Germany), Lotte Nielsen (Denmark), Tamás Páll (Hungary), Bundith Phunsombatlert (Thailand/United States), Mia Raadik (Estonia), Elisabeth Rastl-Dorner (Austria), Alona Rodeh (Germany/Israel), Micha Serraf (Zimbabwe), Skaus (Norway), Julie Stavad (Denmark), Maja Štefančíková (Slovakia/Czech Republic/United States), Anna Witt (Austria), Kenji Yamada (Japan/United Kingdom), and Rafał Żarski (Poland).

Founded in 1994, the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) supports the creative development of artists and curators, and promotes exchange through residencies and public programs. Taipei Cultural Center in New York, the Ministry of Culture in Taiwan has worked with ISCP since 2000 to select and participate the program.

ISCP
2021 Fall Open Studios
Open Hours: Saturday, November 13, 12–7pm
Registration is required here.
https://iscp-nyc.org

Photo, Erica Yu-Wen Huang
Photo Courtesy of Erica Yu-Wen Huang

Wet Networks is supported by Taipei Cultural Center in New York and is mainly organized by the Queens Museum (QM) and is presented in partnership with Rhizome and CycleX. It features artifacts and commissioned projects from Geek Camp 2021: Neversink Never Ever. The output of Geek Camp, Wet Networks is installed alongside the Queens Museum’s long-term exhibition of The Relief Map of New York City’s Water Supply System at the Watershed Gallery.

Taking place in July 2021, this was the first of Taiwanese artist Shu Lea Cheang’s annual “Geek Camp” convening, at CycleX, an experimental farm and cultural center located in what is today known as the town of Andes, New York. Shu Lea Cheang invites curator, Celine Wong Katzman to gather a group of artists for the camp. She chose artists whose practices resonated with the context of the watershed to take part in the camp at the site located just a few miles uphill from where the East Branch of the Delaware River feeds the Pepacton reservoir.

The artists, Tecumseh Ceaser, Nabil Hassein, Melanie Hoff, Christopher Lin, Jan Mun, and TJ Shin considered Cheang’s prompts to walk the trails, consider the ebbs and flows of the reservoir, and engage waves as carriers to recall buried, bittersweet sentiments of displacement and relocation. They were joined by Erwin A. Karl, mycologist and Evan T. Pritchard, Founder of the Center for Algonquin Culture. Together their reflections and offerings illuminate the relationships between new technologies and traditional ways of knowing, the challenges of collective care, and how land and water shape and are shaped by one another and us.

About the Artist, Shu Lea Cheang
Shu Lea Cheang 鄭淑麗 (b. 1954, Taiwan) is an artist and filmmaker currently based in Paris, and who often travels to the United States to spend time at CycleX, her recently-formed artist residency and media lab in Andes, New York. Cheang is a pioneering figure in internet art whose multimedia approach includes film, video, installation, software interaction and durational performance. Employing multidisciplinary techniques, Cheang seeks to challenge the positions taken by the popular media, institutions and the government.

About the Queens Museum
QM was established as an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit in 1972 by a group of community leaders seeking to create a vibrant cultural center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park (FMCP). Housed in the historic New York City Building—the City’s official pavilion during the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs, and the temporary former home of the UN General Assembly—our galleries overlook the Unisphere—the unofficial emblem of Queens. From this historically relevant past, QM is now a vibrant community center that welcomes individuals of all ages, abilities, linguistic preferences, socio-economic backgrounds to engage with the diverse programs and resources that the museum has to offer. QM works to ensure our exhibitions, education initiatives, and public programs are fully accessible to all individuals that visit the museum and utilize our resources each year.

About Geek Camp
Geek Camp 2021 was supported by CycleX and Rhizome. CycleX is a non-profit intercultural land trust located in Andes NY, dedicated to cross-disciplinary artistic and farming pursuits with a focus on nurturing future farmers. CycleX engages in biodiversity, mycology, and permaculture, and is a free-form laboratory where plants and fungi are acknowledged as both food and medicine.

Exhibition:
Title: Wet Networks
Date: October 30, 2021- January 30, 2022
Venue: The Queens Museum, (New York City Building Flushing Meadows Corona Park Queens, NY 11368)
Website: queensmuseum.org

The Taipei Cultural Center and Michigan State University (Department of Linguistics, Languages and Cultures) are delighted to co-present an Online Author Talk: Chi Ta-Wei and THE MEMBRANES—Queer Literature from Taiwan.

♦Date and Time
Wednesday, November 17, 2021, 7 PM ET

♦Location
Online Meeting via Zoom

♦Register Website /RSVP required: https://forms.gle/YW1UsF8t2qH8Qt6c6

♦Program
The program moderator, Tze-lan Sang, will interview Ta-Wei Chi, whose novel The Membranes was published in English in June, 2021 by Columbia University Press, and Ari Larissa Heinrich , who is the translator of the book.

♦About the Book
Books are all time-capsules, of course, but Chi’s novel offers an exquisite dual experience—because while The Membranes is a modern classic, it hasn’t lost an ounce of its provocative significance. As a gently incisive puzzle-box it works to pry at the readers’ own emotions about the nature of stories and how we’re made of them; as a novel of queer attachment, it explores how we attempt to connect to one another through endless membranes—and often fail to do so.~Tor.com

A fascinating new book~MIT Technology Review

A mind-blowing book . . . I have NEVER read anything like it~Literary Infatuation

"First published in Taiwan in 1995, The Membranes is a classic of queer speculative fiction in Chinese. Ta-Wei Chi weaves dystopian tropes—heirloom animals, radiation-proof combat drones, sinister surveillance technologies—into a sensitive portrait of one young woman’s quest for self-understanding." (Publisher summary)

♦About the Author
Ta-Wei Chi is a queer science fiction writer in Taipei. His science fiction novel, The Membranes, originally published in Chinese, is available in Japanese, French and English. His science fiction story collection, The Pearls, is available in France. With a PhD in Comparative Literature at UCLA, he is associate professor of Taiwanese literature at National Chengchi University in Taipei, where he teaches LGBT studies and disability studies. His monograph in Chinese discusses LGBT and literature in Taiwanese history from the 1960s to the new millennium.

♦About the Translator
Ari Larissa Heinrich is a Professor of Chinese literature and media at the Australian National University. He is the author of Chinese Surplus: Biopolitical Aesthetics and the Medically Commodified Body (2018) and other books, and the translator of Qiu Miaojin’s novel Last Words from Montmartre (2014). He translated Ta-Wei Chi's novel The Membranes into English.

♦About the Moderator
Tze-lan Sang is Professor of Chinese Literature and Media at Michigan State University. Her main research interests are gender and sexuality studies, documentary film, and Taiwan studies. Among her major publications are The Emerging Lesbian: Female Same-Sex Desire in Modern China (Chicago, 2003) and Documenting Taiwan on Film: Issues and Methods in New Documentaries (Routledge, 2012). She is currently finishing a book titled Taiwan’s Women Documentary Filmmakers: Public Intellectuals and Innovative Artists. She is also a poet. Her poetry collection Time Capsules was published in Taipei in 2021 (Xiuwei).

The Taipei Cultural Center in New York and FirstWorks are proud to present this stunning live performance film created by Taiwanese jazz artist Vincent Hsu (徐崇育) and his ensemble, Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band (Soy La Ley古巴爵士樂團). Born in Changhua, Taiwan, Hsu is an award-winning bassist and composer who fuses jazz and Afro-Cuban music with his Taiwanese roots.

♠Program
The band’s newest program of 《Jazz Changed, Jazz Changes, Jazz Changin’》live performance film will be streaming at FirstWorks’ Facebook on Friday, November 12, 8 PM ET.

Streaming On-Demand November 12-19 on the FirstWorks Virtual Stage - Get your FREE tickets here -> https://bit.ly/3GdR2bI

“How has jazz changed the world? How is it changing the world? How has jazz itself changed?” Reflecting on these questions, Hsu’s film is a thrilling tribute to a uniquely African American art form, and an acknowledgment of the indelible impact jazz has left on people and societies around the world.

Featuring impeccable sound and spectacular settings unique to this island nation, the performance film reflects both the everyday and traditional life in Taiwan, while showing that jazz is alive and well beyond its birthplace. Interview clips with prominent musicians and scholars are also featured, including with Hsu's mentor, the legendary bassist Cecil McBee, historian Loren Schoenberg, drummer and educator Jerome Jennings, and poet and writer Naomi Extra.

♠About the Band
Formed in 2010, Vincent Hsu & Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band (徐崇育& Soy La Ley古巴爵士樂團)aims to infuse their Taiwanese roots to the practices of jazz and Afro-Cuban music style, leading audiences to experience the unpredictability of jazz improvisation through Afro-Cuban rhythms. Their debut album ‘In Our Blood’ was released in June 2018. It won the “Best Jazz Single of the Year” with Vincent Hsu’s composition “Dreamer's Blues” at the 2018 Golden Indie Music Awards, and was also honored with the Global Music Awards' Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement in 2019.

Vincent Hsu, the founder/bandleader has been touring worldwide, including Madrid International Jazz Festival, Busan Jazz Festival, Taichung Jazz Festival, National Theater & Concert Hall Summer Jazz Festival, and Macau Jazz Festival, among others. Taking the combination of Latin music and jazz as a form of bilingualism, Hsu is an inheritor of the musical lineage that originates in New York’s Spanish Harlem. Three distinct cultures intersect and interweave to shape the sonic character of his band: the singular power of African polyrhythms come together with the fusion of Latin and jazz improvisation in a profusion of Taiwanese compositional elements that give rise to vivid storytelling. Vincent Hsu & Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band have taken the dual vernaculars of Afro-Cuban music and jazz, and left their own musical mark through the creation of an original work that embraces the context of Taiwan’s own soundscape.