Omotenashi and Late Life: A Chien-Ming Wang Story, both films from Taiwan, have been selected for the 34th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film festival, which will take place from May 3rd through May 12th, 2018. Omotenashi will be competing in the international feature film category, while Late Life: A Chien-Ming Wang Story will enter the race as an international documentary.
Omotenashi is a Taiwanese-Japanese co-production that tells the story of two families that meet through the sales of an old hot spring hotel in Kyoto, and learn the art of hospitality and to mature after a series of conflicts and love that stem from cultural differences. The film opened the 2018 Hong Kong International Film Festival, and its director Yu-Jie Chen had previously won awards in the Golden Horse and Golden Harvest Awards with his short film Thieves. Omotenashi is Chen’s first feature film.
Late Life: A Chien-Ming Wang Story on the other hand, documents Taiwanese pitcher Chien-Ming Wang’s career in the United States, depicting his rise to stardom and ensuing injury, as well as his personal life as he plays the roles of a son and a father. The film was produced in the United States, and its director Wei-Yang Chen is currently based in New York and also works as an architect and musician.
The Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles also notes that other than the two selections, three other Taiwanese shorts 100th Birthday Wish, Miss World, and Fundamental will also be featured in the festival’s Spotlight in Taiwan section, which is co-hosted by the Taiwan Academy. This marks the sixth year of collaboration between the Taiwan Academy and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
The Taiwan Academy states that the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is the biggest Asian film festival in Southern California, which works to discover and nurture Asian filmmakers, and accompanies the Asia Pacific Heritage Festival every May. This year, over 800 films from all over the world has entered the race, and over the course of ten days of the festival, a total of 118 films will be screened.