These are ten films you shouldn’t miss at the 20th Kaohsiung Film Festival which will take place from October 16th until November 1st, 2020 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

About the festival:
The Kaohsiung Film Festival is a film festival held annually in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Established in 2001, the festival screens both locally produced and international films, in all genres and lengths. The festival also has an international competition section where it hands out awards for outstanding short films

Selected Films:

Tadokoro Saki’s father is an alcoholic who invites his friends home and plays Mahjong, smoking and drinking all night. Her mother is a devoted believer of a religious cult and always takes care of her father. However, one day, she kills herself… Over the course of the story, the tone swings between comical and serious, from her father’s drunken misadventures to her mother’s loneliness, as Saki desperately struggles to search out a bright future while her family falls apart. (Kaohsiung Film Festival 2020)

Screening Dates:
October 25th, 2020 (Sunday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 20:10 pm
October 30th, 2020 (Friday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 20:40 pm

Trailer:

Shigeru is a deaf-mute garbage collector who finds a broken surfboard during a shift. This discovery leads him to wanting to surf. He repairs it and, encouraged by his profoundly deaf girlfriend Takako, begins surfing every day, eventually entering in competitions. This is pretty much the whole plot, but it encompasses a truly rapturous love story, a lot of humor, and some piercing truths about human nature. Though trapped in silence, their expression of love is no less profound. (Kaohsiung Film Festival 2020)

Screening Dates:
October 17th, 2020 (Saturday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 19:30 pm
October 24th, 2020 (Saturday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 11:00 am

Trailer:

For the past five years, Lin has been looking after his elderly landlady Mrs. Chou and her grandson Yo-yu. They live together like a family, and this is Lin’s way of remembering someone. When Mrs. Chou passes away, her son Li-gang returns from overseas and discovers that Mrs. Chou’s property is passed on to Yo-yu, who has been legally adopted by Lin. Li-gang accuses Lin of killing his mother. As the ensuing investigation continues, more and more evidence mounts against Lin…

Screening Dates:
October 18th, 2020 (Sunday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 16:40 pm

Trailer:

The film is based on a fictitious blog by comedian/actor Bakarhythm in which he posed as a female office worker and wrote stories about her life and the people she encountered. A gloomy Monday morning is the start of another week for Bakarhythm working at the bank. Still half asleep, she manages to do the makeup properly and leaves the house. The stressfully crowded train staggers along. Life of women in the workplace is more than it seems.

Screening Dates:
October 18th, 2020 (Sunday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 19:40 pm
October 31st, 2020 (Saturday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 19:30 pm

Trailer:

Jallikattu is the name for the bull-chasing event typically practiced in the Indian state of Tamil-Nadu, where a crowd of people attempts to grab and hang on to a bull on the run. The film’s plot is a twist on this, revolving around a bull escaping slaughter due to the incompetence of the men. The bull then causes extensive damage in its path. Quickly, the whole village converges into a self-destructive chase and the boundaries between man and beast disappear.

Screening Dates:
October 21st, 2020 (Wednesday) | MLD Cinema | 18:30 pm
October 26th, 2020 (Monday) | MLD Cinema | 21:10 pm

Trailer:

The film consists of three stories adapted from Japanese novelist Kanoko Okamoto’s Farewell, To The Year Gone By and The House Spirit. Set in modern-day Taiwan, Japan’s Yamagata, and Kuala Lumpur, they are the fantastical and humorous depiction of the landscapes of love between men and women in the 21st century. A slap in the face, a voice message, and a storm upend the quiet routine of life. They stir up memories, giving rise to pursuit, revenge and confrontation.

Screening Dates:
October 17th, 2020 (Saturday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 12:50 pm

At a drunken wrap party, Chan-sil, a film producer, finds herself unemployed with the sudden death of her long-time collaborated director. Jobless and moneyless, she begins to work as a cleaning lady at an actress’ place. By chance, she meets a young man who teaches French to the actress. Chan-sil is strongly attracted to him while her old anxieties begin to emerge: her already-gone-youth, screwed love, and broken career.

Screening Dates:
October 24th, 2020 (Saturday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 18:30 pm
October 31st, 2020 (Saturday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 11:30 am

Trailer:

Struggling for years, 55 years old Andy finally comes out as a woman, though it was just partially completed. Andy’s dream comes true, but she also pays the price. Wearing dresses makes her lose her job and her family. One day, a mother and a son turn up in Andy’s life. Realizing that they have no residence permit, Andy decides to keep them with her, without being aware that her sympathy is going to change her life.

Screening Dates:
October 31st, 2020 (Saturday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 16:30 pm

Trailer:

Having never been to school, teenager Taro lives outside the rules of society. He has two best friends, Eiji and Sugio, who both struggle with soul-crushing problems but feel liberated around Taro. In a drab suburb along the banks of a broad river overhung by a highway, the three boys run about unfettered and unobserved. But when they accidentally acquire a pistol, they discover a means for pointing it against the harsh reality they’ve long ignored.

Screening Dates:
October 18th, 2020 (Sunday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 13:30 pm
October 24th, 2020 (Sunday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 21:20 pm

Trailer:

“Honest takes time, Kindness takes courage……” The Cleaner is responsible for cleaning someone’s house after they died. His job is not only cleaning the home but also helping to clean the relationship between the deceased and their family. At the end of life, we seem to realize that everything is all about forgiveness and love.

Screening Dates:
October 25th, 2020 (Sunday) | Kaohsiung Main Public Library | 15:20 pm

For more information about the festival and the programme please visit the festival’s website here: https://www.kff.tw