Friday, 22 March 2024
18:00-20:30 PDT
AERL 120, Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory, UBC
Direction: 2202 Main Mall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Co-presented by South Taiwan Film Festival and Asian Independent Cinema Showcase, this short films selection presents TOH Tze Wei’s “The Darkest Night”, WU Yu-Fen’s “There”, and KWOK Zune’s “Night is Young.” Speaking in Cantonese, Hokkien, Malay, Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Indonesian, the three award-winning short films tell stories of the underrepresented in different parts of Asia and the possibility of finding hope and home.
“The Darkest Night” is the recipient of the Best Director Award (Student Category) at The European Film Award for Best Cinematographer. “There” received the Best Live Action Short (Student Category) at the Golden Harvest Awards. “Night is Young” was named the Best Live Action Short Film at the Golden Horse Awards.
This is the first time the three award-winning short films will be shown in Canada and is the third program of the inaugural edition of the Asian Independent Cinema Showcase. The three directors will participate in a virtual conversation following the screening.
English subtitles to be provided.
In-person Event. Free of charge. Limited seats available. Registration required
To learn more about each of the three short films, visit this webpage.
About the Asian Independent Cinema Showcase:
The Asian Independent Cinema Showcase (AICS) is a UBC-based film festival that aims to foster a film appreciation community within and beyond the university; cultivate media literacy and cross-cultural understanding; and give voices to independent stories told by Asian filmmakers. Broadly speaking, an “independent film” is considered to be a creative work produced outside big or mainstream studios. Through the lens of independent cinemas, the AICS is committed to serve as a participatory platform for publication and dialogue between independent storytellers, underrepresented groups, cultural practitioners, emerging talents, academics, students, and members of the public. The inaugural edition is supported by the UBC Public Humanities Hub seed grant.
About the South Taiwan Film Festival:
Established in millennium, the South Taiwan Film Festival (STFF) aims to supporting film art, especially filmmakers who dedicated to offer unique perspectives of modern society. Being one of the few independent film festivals in Taiwan, and the only indie film festival in south Taiwan, the STFF has been supported not only by Tainan city government, MOC(ministry of Culture, Taiwan), but most important, all audience and indie film makers all around the world. Hence, regarding cinema as a platform which links with filmmakers and audience. We, the STFF presents annually high-profile events, panorama,【South Award—Chinese film Competition】by premieres of films, in-depth seminar after screens, talks and forums focus on environment, audio-visual aesthetics and contemporary issues of society.
The STFF members are originally from students in graduate institute of Audio-Visual Academy in National Tainan Art University, along with well-known Taiwan female director and professor Yu-Shan HUANG. Now the STFF members are mainly from various specialties and most of all, big fans of cinema.
Website | Instagram | Facebook
This event is co-presented by the Asian Independent Cinema Showcase and the South Taiwan Film Festival; is co-organized by the Hong Kong Studies Initiative, University of British Columbia, and the Institute for Transpacific Cultural Research, Simon Fraser University; and is supported by the UBC Department of Asian Studies, the Public Humanities Hub, the Watt Family – Hong Kong Studies Initiative Fund, and the Centre for Chinese Research.