2016
Golden Horse Awards
最佳紀錄片｜最佳音效提名
最佳紀錄片｜最佳音效提名
台灣競賽首獎｜國際競賽單元｜華人紀錄片獎提名｜作者觀點獎提名
最佳編劇｜最佳聲音設計
未來之光單元
主競賽單元
This year, Giloo teams up with TIDF to curate a special selection of past TIDF nominees and award-winning films. While you're enjoying the festival in person, don’t forget to sneak in a little break and relive (or... redeem?) some of the unforgettable works from previous editions—now available online.
Martin Scorsese once said: "Cinema is about what’s in the frame and what’s out." The rectangular frame of the camera—and the screen—shapes the stories we tell, the history we remember, and even our very memories. We’ve grown accustomed to what lies within the frame, but if we take a step back, we might begin to reexamine both what’s inside and what’s outside—to rediscover forgotten stories, histories, emotions, and memories. From experimental films to documentaries; from black-and-white negatives, historical footage, to paintings and poetry; from continental Europe to Taiwan; from the history of war to literary legacies, to intimate family and personal memories— these five films lead us into one frame after another, where retrospection becomes reflection. And from there, perhaps, we may begin to move freely between the inside and outside of the frame, to remember again, to narrate anew— embarking on odysseys through memory and time.
“Unexpected Taiwanese Cinema” takes its title from a regular column by writer Zhang Yi-xuan, published in Fa: A Journal of Film Appreciation. Issue #190 of the magazine centers on films made with archival footage, opening a conversation on archival collage cinema. A special feature titled Private Films by Women explores how the idea that “the personal is political” is practiced through documentary. In her column of the same name, Zhang Yi-xuan also reflects on the film Looking for Chiang Ching-kuo, examining its unique place in the Taiwanese cinematic landscape—how it opens up the past instead of merely returning to it, and how such an approach keeps critical thinking through images alive. Both “archives” and “documentation” point us toward the past. But unless the past is re-examined and redefined, memory cannot truly exist. This collaborative program between Fa and Giloo invites viewers to engage with Taiwanese cinema that defies expectations—films that challenge, refract, and reimagine the nation's film history through both viewing and writing. Together, we hope to uncover new cinematic possibilities waiting within Taiwan’s ever-evolving image archive.
What is Taiwan? What does Taiwan have? Our imagination of Taiwan’s future depends on how we choose to read Taiwan. The Taiwanese documentaries selected by Giloo aim to offer a multifaceted and in-depth perspective—allowing us to empathize with the struggles and efforts of the Taiwanese people, uncover the richness of this land, confront its challenges, and analyze the issues that shape life on this island.
Images that appear real—once cut, rearranged, and reassembled—reveal a world flickering with firelight and illusion. A game, a dream— a documentary can also be just that: a dream. In this realm of moving images, where creators weave dreams from fragments of reality, are you the one dreaming? Or have you become part of the dream itself?
Other than observation from the center, the South Taiwan Film Festival serves as reflections on social stereotypes, the perspectives of locality; of course, there are over two decades of expectation of avant-garde spirit. By a serious of recommendations of South-Award and panorama programs, along with Giloo, we feast you with the most vivid spirit of the South.
Why do we write? When words erupt from the mind and pour into the heart, images and monologues take the place of daily tedium—of the mundane, the irritating, the unbearable. For some writers, however, writing is more than expression; it is salvation. It is an unshakable calling. In this themed selection on literature, Giloo presents documentaries that delve into the lives and inner worlds of writers—poets, novelists, critics—who wield pens (or typewriters) like swords, fearlessly confronting the truths of the world. The passage of time leaves behind not just pages, but marks of introspection—quiet yet undeniable badges of their creative journey.
"Finding oneself" has been a form of performance art since Adam and Eve. Humanity has exhausted its creativity trying to delete the original betrayal—eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Despite entire bestsellers being written to make sense of our shame, we still fear the gaze of the world, the judgment of society… and above all, being disliked. It’s hard to look yourself in the eye. So we look away. And when we can’t bear our own shame, we survive by projecting it onto others. In a world that punishes self-honesty, those who dare to face themselves are cast as misfits—freaks in the corner. The subjects and creators of these selected films are anything but ordinary in society’s eyes. And yet, their footsteps leave behind a trace of something unshakably honest—something that quietly shames those still clutching the forbidden fruit. They stand before God, and before themselves, unflinching. They’ve never abandoned the original blueprint of their being. They’ve always known who they are, and where they stand. Are you still trying to "find yourself"? Or could it be—you already know exactly who you are… You’re just afraid to admit it?
Margaret Atwood carried The Handmaid’s Tale from Canada to the world. Yu Xiuhua, a woman with cerebral palsy from rural Hubei, moved the Chinese-speaking world with a single poem. In the 1930s, Ong Naô journeyed from Taiwan to Tokyo for his studies and left behind Before the Dawn. Giloo Documentary and ChiuKo Publishing present a curated selection of literary documentaries. Let the words of these writers take you elsewhere.
Answer the call of instinct—leave behind the trivialities of daily life and embark on a pilgrimage of encounters with nature and literary exploration. On these journeys of adventure, where limits are tested and boundaries redefined, the soul is transformed. These inseparable life experiences continue to inspire others to move toward distant light. As we listen to their stories, may we too be moved to shoulder our backpacks—and set out to meet a new version of ourselves.