Until December, 2020 Taiwan Film Festival of Boston (TFFB) has been featuring a virtual “Lost and Found” series, presenting one inspiring and spiritual Taiwanese film per month. In October, the festival is going to screen RUN FOR DREAM(出發, 2019), a documentary recording famous Taiwanese ultramarathon athlete Chen Yen-Po's (陳彥博, aka Tommy Chen) exciting yet treacherous ten-year journey to become the champion. The festival curator Andrew Lin points out that the documentary would give people who suffer in this pandemic era -mentally or physically- courage to stay strong and keep fighting.
Chen is the first ever Asian athlete to complete the 4 Deserts Race Series and achieved the title of World Champion in 2016. After finishing the last Desert race in Antarctica, the athlete shared his thoughts on Facebook, saying that he felt extreme pressure over his bid to secure the title, getting little sleep and suffering from paranoia about the state of his equipment aside from painful foot injuries, shortness of breath and concerns about frostbite. However, he also wrote, “The important thing in life is not triumph but the struggle.” Audience can witness Chen’s blood, sweat and tears and his relentless perseverance to continue in this documentary.
Director Huang Mau-Sen(黃茂森) will participate in the post-screening forum on Oct 11, 8pm ET. Huang will share his personal stories of how he and other production team members conquered difficulties while filming in the treacherous conditions. The film crew followed Chen not only to Antarctica, but also to deserts, high mountains, snowfields and even the Arctic Ocean.
This year’s Taiwan Film Festival of Boston is co-presented by Taipei Cultural Center in New York, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston, and the Science and Technology Division of TECO in Boston.
Official Trailer: https://youtu.be/7aBtoD8GYW0
For more information, please visit the TFFB website: https://taiwanfilmfest.org/.