12 Films you shouldn’t miss at the Golden Horse Fantastic Film Festival 2021

By Asian Film Festival on March 22, 2021 • ( Leave a comment )

These are twelve films you shouldn’t miss at the Golden Horse Fantastic Film Festival, which will take place from April 9th – 18th, 2021, Taipei, Taiwan.

About the festival:
Golden Horse Fantastic Film Festival (GHFFF) is the first in Taiwan aiming at the theme of fantasy. Since its first edition initiated in 2010, the Festival covered various genres like Sci-Fi, horror, thriller, musical, comedy, martial arts, animation, romance and cult films, leading the audience to explore beyond the boundary of imagination. Previous Filmmaker-In-Focus section, presenting Roman Polanski, Sam Raimi, Álex de la Iglesia, David Lynch, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Ben Wheatley, Kudo Kankuro, Bob Fosse and John Carpenter, also broadened audiences’ horizon with alternative vision.

Important:
All the venues will practice disease-prevention measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The measures may be adjusted in compliance with the latest instructions by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC):
• Please wear a mask throughout the screening.
• There will be forehead temperature checks at the entrance. Anyone with a temperature of 37.5 degrees or above will be denied entry.
• The festival implements the contact-information-based measures required by the CECC. We will therefore collect the contact info of the ticket buyers. The contact info will be used exclusively for the possible epidemic investigation. In case of obligatory epidemic investigation, the registered buyer is obligated to notify the actual attendee(s), should there be any ticket transfers or resales.

Selected Films:

**Among Us** by Lin Cheng-sheng – Taiwan | 2021 – 102 minutes
**Section**: Special Screening | World Premiere

Art teacher HAN Shu-Hua has been teaching painting to children with autism spectrum disorder for over two decades. Deeply in awe of the unconventional genius these children exhibit, HAN founded a shelter institute in 2003, where the now grown-up autistic children can keep painting and playing music. This documentary portraits four of Han’s students, closely following their interactions with their mentor and family members, revealing their unique way to express emotions.

Screening Dates:
April 17th, 2021 | Saturday | Vie Show Hsin Yi 14 | 19:50 pm (Non-English subtitles | Q& A with Director)

Trailer:

**Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes** by Yamaguchi Junta – Japan | 2020 – 70 minutes
**Section**: Nippon Cha Cha Cha | Asian Premiere

Kato, the owner of Cafe Phalam in Kyoto, suddenly finds himself appearing on a TV screen saying, “I’m the future me. Two minutes in the future.” The TVs in his room and in the cafe are somehow connected with a time difference. Discovering the existence of the “Time TV,” cafe staff and regular customers enjoy the phenomenon. Furthermore, as the “time echo” accelerates the fiasco, Kato’s crush Megumi living next door and the yakuza in the same building become involved as well. Then a mysterious duo pays a visit. The shackles of continuity tighten until they go beyond the infinite two minutes.

Trailer:

**Fargo** by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen – USA | 1996 – 98 minutes
**Section**: Cinephile’s Choice

Jerry Lundegaard is in a financial jam and, out of desperation, comes up with a plan to hire thugs to kidnap his wife and demand ransom from her wealthy father, to be secretly split between Jerry and the perpetrators. However these thugs turn out to be real losers from the frozen northern reaches of Fargo, North Dakota. And the kidnapping turns sour with things beginning to slip from bad to worse as Jerry helplessly watches on.

Trailer:

**My Blood & Bones in a flowing Galaxy** by SABU – Japan | 2021 – 127 minutes
**Section**: Nippon Cha Cha Cha

Ordinary high school student Hamada Kiyosumi, who stands firmly for righteousness and justice, tries to rescue solitary Kuramoto Hari from being bullied. Hari is grateful to Kiyosumi and admires him, and the two are gradually closing the distance between their hearts. And yet, Hari has a secret she dares not tell anyone, not even Kiyosumi, who wants nothing but to protect her. However, a danger is coming…

Trailer:

**Never Gonna Snow Again** by Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert – Poland, Germany | 2020 – 115 minutes – **Section**: Fantasy of the Year

A masseur from the East enters the lives of the rich residents of a bland, walled off community. Despite their wealth, the residents emit an inner sadness, a longing. The mysterious newcomer’s hands heal, his eyes seem to penetrate their souls. To them, his Russian accent sounds like a song from the past, a memory of their seemingly safer childhood. Zhenia, for this is his name, changes their lives.

Screening Dates:
April 17th, 2021 | Saturday | MUVIE TITAN | 19:40 pm

Trailer:

**Nine Days** by Edson Oda – USA | 2020 – 124 minutes
**Section**: Asian Premiere

Will spends his days in a remote outpost watching the live Point of View on TV’s of people going about their lives, until one subject perishes, leaving a vacancy for a new life on earth. Soon, several unborn souls arrive at Will’s to undergo tests determining their fitness, facing oblivion when they are deemed unsuitable. But Will soon faces his own existential challenge in the form of free-spirited Emma, forcing him to turn within and reckon with his tumultuous past. Fueled by unexpected power, he discovers a bold new path forward in his life.

Trailer:

**Ready o/r knot** by Anselm Chan Mou Yin – Hong Kong | 2021 – 105 minutes
**Section**: Ain’t No Cure For Fun

He met her at a friend’s wedding; love at first sight and they are about to celebrate the 5th anniversary being together. Neither of them thought about getting married, but their friends do not think so…his buddies emphsize mandatory protection when it comes to sex; her besties belive that a child will secure the proposal. And the battle for marriage is set on fire: humor, horror, suspense are all mixed together. Will it put an end to this relationship? Ready or Knot, here love comes, and you’ve got nowhere to hide.

Screening Dates:
April 14th, 2021 | Wednesday | MUVIE TITAN | 19:20 pm

Trailer:

**Sexual drive** by Yoshida Kota – Japan | 2021 – 70 minutes
**Section**: Nippon Cha Cha Cha | Asian Premiere

A Japanese triptych about sex, aphrodisiac foods and secret desires. In part one Natto, named after a traditional fermented soybean dish, Kurita visits designer Enatsu purporting to be in an affair with the latter’s wife Masumi. In the second part Mapo, named after Chinese tofu, Kurita asks Akane, the woman who used to bully him, to hit him with her car. The final part Ramen centers on the adulterous affair between married Ikeyama and Momoka.

Trailer:

**Tears on Fire: Ep.1-2** by Tsai Yin-chuan – Taiwan | 2021 – 92 minutes
**Section**: Special Screening | World Premiere

Firefighter Han struggles to balance between work and tending to his pregnant wife and 5-year-old daughter; Hsu, the only female firefighter in her unit, is eager to prove herself at work, but her mother and senior firefighters never stop doubting her. Yuan is among the most devoted and dauntless member in the team, but he has a secret trauma. Yang is a man of justice, and his candid attitude often puts him in danger. However, it is also his honest and outspoken nature that brings the team together.

Trailer:

**The Painter and the Thief** by Benjamin Ree – Norway | 2020 – 102 minutes
**Section**: Fantasy of the Year

When two paintings by Czech naturalist Barbora Kysilkova are stolen from an Oslo art gallery, Norwegian authorities quickly identify and arrest the two thieves but find no trace of the paintings. Hoping to learn what happened, Barbora approaches one of the thieves at his criminal hearing and asks if she can paint his portrait. What follows over a series of portraits and many years is an extraordinary story of human connection and friendship.

Screening Dates:
April 12th, 2021 | Monday | MUVIE TITAN | 19:30 pm

Trailer:

**The Toll** by Michael Nader – Canada | 2020 – 80 minutes
**Section**: Thriller, Scarier Than Horror

Cami gets into a car with the introverted and decidedly unsettling Spencer. When she starts to think that this wasn’t a good idea, the car hits something, but there’s no body in sight: only the blackness of the night, the woods and a seemingly endless road, where detours lead them to a sinister encounter. Using minimal elements and a great deal of ingenuity, The Toll proves to be a surprising blend of terrifying motifs.

Trailer:

**You’re not normal, Either!** by Maeda Koji – Japan | 2021 – 98 minutes
**Section**: Ain’t no cure for Love | International Premiere

Ono Yasuomi, a math teacher at a private institute, is a single man engrossed in his job and totally incapable of person-to-person communication. Ono doesn’t complain about life, but he feels uneasy about being single for the rest of his life. His dates with women do not go smoothly and he doesn’t know how to fix that. When his student Akimoto Kasumi tells him that it is not normal, Ono asks her to help him out.

Screening Dates:
April 14th, 2021 | Vie Show Hsin Yi 12 | 21:50 pm
April 18th, 2021 | Vie Show Hsin Yi 12 | 19:20 pm

Trailer: