Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema

Hsieh grew up watching such Taiwanese greats as Houn and Edvard Yang, whose films were gradually discovered – and soon praised – abroad. The old-school melodramas had to make way and the citizens of an isolated country under martial law were finally able to encounter their identity on the big screen. Contrary to the commercial Hong Kong, Taiwanese productions were slower in pace, focused on the characters and were beautifully composed. Hsieh Chinlin, who was even Hou's assistant director for a brief period later on, moved to France when he was just over 20 years old. He has worked for a long time as a programmer for the famed Rotterdam Film Festival. The interviewees in his "road movie" include such former Sodankylä guests as directors Olivier Assayas and Apichatpong Weerasethakul along with critics Tony Rayns and Pierre Rissient. Also directors Jia Zhangke, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Tsai Ming-Lian as well as artist Ai Weiwei get to have their say. Even the earliest extracts of Taiwanese cinema have remained so fresh that one would instantly want to see these treats: for example Hou's A Summer at Grandpa's (1984) and A Time to Live, a Time to Die (1985) as well as Yang's Brighter Summer Day (1991) or 1 + 1 (2000). (TM) (Midnight Sun Film Festival)