The Taipei Cultural Center is welcoming TAIWAN TRANSCENDENT- the largest Taiwan cinema program set to premier at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival. The festival’s schedule features eleven hit Taiwanese films, three of which have received nominations for this year’s Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film Competition, and appearances from stars Austin Lin, Nikki Hsieh, and Kent Tsai.
The TAIWAN TRANSCENDENT section, supported by the Taipei Cultural Center, shows a cinema culture in full, defiant bloom, irreverent toward binaries of high and low art, and freely pivoting between profound introspection and mercurial passions. Lead actor Austin Lin and acclaimed actress Nikki Hsieh are set to attend alongside their film Suffocating Love. On the arthouse side of the lineup is the masterful debut film of Hwarng Wern-ying, Be With Me, executive produced by Hou Hsiao-Hsien. The turbocharged, star-studded action/comedy Breaking and Re-entering brings wunderkind director Leo Wang and star Kent Tsai to the festival in person, and Hsiao Ya-Chuan’s Old Fox is a stark yet lyrical morality tale set against the social upheaval during Taiwan’s economic boom.
A two-film sampling of Taiwan’s cinematic intoxicant of choice—the “Boys Love” rom-com renaissance—includes The Time of Huan Nan, a coming-of-age tale that perceptively probes the eternal tangles of yearnings and societal repression, and A Balloon’s Landing, director Angel Teng’s metaphysical charmer starring Hong Kong heartthrob Terrance Lau and Taiwan’s Fandy Fan.
Other notable films include Salli, directed by Chien-Hung Lien, featuring Esther Liu as a sexy, sassy chicken farmer, and the captivating Japan-Taiwan co-production 18x2 Beyond Youthful Days, starring Hsu Kuang-han (also known as Greg Hsu, of Marry My Dead Body fame, NYAFF 2023).
Three Taiwanese titles were nominated for this year’s Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film Competition—Snow in Midsummer (Chong Keat Aun, Taiwan co-production), a meditation on a tragedy that still scars the soul of a nation; Suffocating Love (Liao Ming-yi, Taiwan), a dizzying, disorienting plunge into the rabbit hole of modern romance shot entirely on an iPhone; and Trouble Girl (Chin Chia-Hua, Taiwan), a tumultuous drama exploring the complex bonds between a mother and her neurodiverse daughter (Audrey Lin in an award-winning role).
The Horse, starring Taiwanese singer-songwriter-actress Mavis Fan (The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate), has been selected for “The Animals That Therefore We Are” Shorts Program, which highlights seven superlative shorts exploring and reconfiguring the relationship between humankind and animals.
The New York Asian Film Festival is co-presented by the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center, and will take place from July 12–22, 2024 at FLC’s Walter Reade Theater (165 W 65th Street), and from July 22–28 at the SVA Theatre (333 W 23rd Street). This year’s NYAFF features more than 90 new and classic titles from China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Mongolia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and beyond, with nine world premieres, 12 international premieres, and 38 North American premieres.
For more information, please visit: https://www.nyaff.org/
TAIWAN TRANSCENDENT
18x2 Beyond Youthful Days | dir. Michihito Fujii, Japan, Taiwan, 2024 | North American Premiere
A Balloon’s Landing | dir. Angel Teng, Taiwan, Hong Kong, 2024 | International Premiere
Be With Me | dir. Hwarng Wern Ying, Taiwan, 2023 | East Coast Premiere
Breaking and Re-entering | dir. Leo Wang, Taiwan, 2024 | North American Premiere
Old Fox | dir. Hsiao Ya-Chuan, Taiwan, 2023 | East Coast Premiere
Salli | dir. Lien Chien-Hung, Taiwan, 2023 | East Coast Premiere
Suffocating Love | dir. Liao Ming-yi, Taiwan, 2024 | North American Premiere
The Time of Huan Nan | dir. Leading Lee, Taiwan, 2023 | International Premiere
UNCAGED AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE FILM COMPETITION
Snow in Midsummer | dir. Chong Keat Aun, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, 2024 | U.S. Premiere
Suffocating Love | dir. Liao Ming-yi, Taiwan, 2024 | North American Premiere
Trouble Girl | dir. Chin Chia-Hua, Taiwan, 2024 | North American Premiere
Shorts Program 1: The Animals That Therefore We Are
The Horse | dir. Lan Yi-Tzu, Taiwan, 2023 | North American Premiere
Showtimes
*Please note the schedule is subject to change.
Friday, July 12
The Horse as part of the Shorts Program 1: The Animals That Therefore We Are｜2:15 PM｜Walter Reade Theater
Tickets: https://purchase.filmlinc.org/73063/73064
Saturday, July 13
The Time of Huan Nan｜6:00 PM｜Look Cinemas, LOOK Cinemas W57
Tickets: https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff24/films/the-time-of-huan-nan
Sunday, July 14
Be With Me｜1:30 PM｜Look Cinemas, LOOK Cinemas W57
Tickets: https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff24/films/be-with-me
A Balloon's Landing｜4:15 PM｜Look Cinemas, LOOK Cinemas W57
Tickets: https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff24/films/a-balloons-landing
Friday, July 19
Old Fox｜6:30 PM｜Look Cinemas, LOOK Cinemas W57
Ticket: https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff24/films/old-fox
Saturday, July 20
18×2 Beyond Youthful Days｜6:30 PM｜Walter Reade Theater
Ticket: https://purchase.filmlinc.org/73118/73119
Monday, July 22
Snow in Midsummer｜6:00 PM｜Beatrice Theatre, SVA Theatre
Tickets: https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff24/films/snow-in-midsummer
Breaking and Re-Entering｜6:00 PM｜Walter Reade Theater, Film at Lincoln Center
Q&A with director Leo Wang and actor Kent Tsai
Tickets: https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff24/films/breaking-and-re-entering
Thursday, July 25
Snow in Midsummer｜8:30 PM｜Look Cinemas, LOOK Cinemas W57
Intro and Q&A with director Chong Keat Aun
Tickets: https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff24/films/snow-in-midsummer
Saturday, July 27
Trouble Girl｜3:30 PM｜Beatrice Theatre, SVA Theatre
Intro and Q&A with director Chin Chia-Hua
Tickets: https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff24/films/trouble-girl
Suffocating Love｜6:30 PM｜Silas Theatre, SVA Theatre
Intro and Q&A with director Liao Ming-yi and cast members Austin Lin and Nikki Hsieh
Tickets: https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff24/films/suffocating-love
Sunday, July 28
Salli｜4:30 PM｜Silas Theatre, SVA Theatre
Intro with actor Austin Lin
Tickets: https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff24/films/salli