The 21st edition of the San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) will kick off from October 23rd to 31st, 2020, showcasing over 125 films from 24 countries in 34 languages through their online platform, together with 2 drive-in screenings. Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles has collaborated with SDAFF to present the “Taiwan Film Showcase” for the 9th consecutive year. This year, the Taiwan Film Showcase will feature an award-winning film “Days,” and a drive-in screening “Get The Hell Out,” a film that reveals a blood-spattered emotional and interest entanglements in Taiwan’s parliament unleashed by a zombie virus outbreak. In the spirit of Halloween, all audiences are encouraged to wear costumes to join this zombie fest at Zion Market on October 24th at 7 pm (PST).
“Days,” directed by Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang, received the Teddy Award at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival and has been selected by this year’s New York Film Festival. As a documentary fiction, it depicts an encounter between a man with an illness and an immigrant worker in exquisite examinations of the two men’s alienation, isolation, and daily routine. The film “Get The Hell Out,” is a dark comedy that has been selected by the Midnight Madness program at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. “Get The Hell Out” portrays a satire of Taiwan’s political system with an approach to an absurd zombie plot.
This year’s Taiwan Film Showcase will present 7 features and 4 shorts. In addition to “Days” and “Get The Hell Out,” the line-up of features includes “Nobody,” a story about the later years of an elderly queer woman; “Archiving Time,” a documentary about film preservation and restoration; “Love and Death in Montmartre,” a documentary about the life and work of a lesbian Taiwanese writer, Qiu Miaojin; and “The Reason Why I’m Home,” a film that reflects on the value of kinship and life; and a restored Taiwanese classic, “The Husband’s Secret.” The shorts program “Shorts: Taiwan America,” will feature “The Granddaughter Detective,” a short about language barriers brought by generational gaps; “Ahma & Alan,” a short about the self-identification journey of the 2nd generation Chinese immigrants in the United States; “Hello from Taiwan” centers on a family of Taiwanese American young girls and their mother who struggle to overcome family and cultural barriers; and “Smiling Buddha,” a story that raises awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. Director Evans Chan and Ari Larissa Heinrich, the English translators of “Last Words from Montmartre,” will be present for the online Q&A discussion of “Love and Death in Montmartre.” Directors of the 4 shorts will also join the group’s online Q&A after the screening of the “Shorts: Taiwan America” program.
SDAFF was founded by the Pacific Arts Movement in 2000. Each year, the festival brings films from around the world to give audiences unique opportunities to discover international cinema. Since 2012, Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles has collaborated with the UCSD Chuan Lyu Foundation for Taiwan Studies and the UCSD Taiwan Studies Lecture Series to present the Taiwan Film Showcase as part of SDAFF and has grown to become the most important exhibition of Taiwanese cinema beyond Asia.
About Taiwan Film Showcase
Film: https://sdaff.org/2020/taiwan-showcase/
Tickets:
$40 for “Get The Hell Out”: https://sdaff.org/2020/movies/get-the-hell-out/
$50 for the rest of the 6 features and 4 shorts: https://sdaff.org/2020/rental-passes/taiwan-showcase-theme-pack/