1981
In this universe, I’ve achieved nothing. In every universe, he loves her. Every page turned, every frame played—we enter your private universe: vast, boundless, infinite. In 2022, Everything Everywhere All at Once took pop culture by storm, flinging us across chaotic multiverses only to land us back in the deeply personal struggles of an Asian American family. The 2023 Taipei International Book Exhibition adopted “The Multiverse” as its central theme. To TAAZE, every reader’s private reading list is its own Ma-verse. And for this occasion, Giloo has curated 10 films to join the multiverse spin. Universe spin, timeline split— who says it can’t be a resistance?
Some feelings can only be acted upon, never spoken. Some desires simmer like volcanoes, erupting into twisted yet pure magma of life. Some people, once in love, burn themselves alive like moths to a flame—madly in love, deeply in pain. Some love cold as death, where a near-death experience unlocks raw desire, revealing that what could kill you... may not be fatal at all. Giloo presents six brand-new XX films, inviting you to surrender your senses. Whether it’s the melancholy of animals after sex, or the liberation of desire through sex, they’re not the kind of XX films you think they are. You ask what XX means? You can do it—but you can’t say it.
A roundup of the top 10 hits of the year—let’s relive them together!
The late Taiwanese writer Lee Wei-jing wrote in her book I Am Hsu Liang-liang: “But how could you blame a girl? Isn’t that what girlhood is? Only through an intense yearning for love can one generate the power to change the world. The ability to defy the universe—that is the essence of a girl’s strength.” A girl’s love, youth, and sorrow have long served as the most compelling themes in art—and the ones most longed for by creators. Through the devotion and actions of girls, these stories blossom, rooted in the fierce emotional landscape of adolescence. The artist's ambition may be real, but can the girl’s heart remain authentic under the aesthetic filter of art? This playlist features films that place girls at the center of the gaze—their bodies and desires exposed to the audience. But are these girls truly vivid and alive, or merely aestheticized slices of youth? The answer awaits you in viewing.
I’m drawn to those films where love is fearless and all-consuming—like an addiction I can’t escape… They believe in love, and love their beliefs. Every glance feels like it’s on fire.
The kind of person you are shapes the kind of film you make—with Sagittarius directors, this couldn’t be more true. At 19, I watched a film by Emir Kusturica, and it completely changed the way I thought about filmmaking. The first time I attended a film festival, I was “shocked” by the featured director, Terayama Shūji. I stumbled into film school by chance, but it was in a film analysis class that Yasujirō Ozu’s black-and-white depictions of family life stirred memories from my childhood. Later, on my own filmmaking path, I was left speechless by Kim Ki-duk’s rapid production pace and prolific output. Thank goodness for cinema! For a freedom-loving, wildly imaginative Sagittarius like me, filmmaking is how I express the spirit of adventure, passion, and courage that defines who I am.
【 CCC Comic Channel × Giloo Documentary “Frames of Autumn: A New Sensory Stroll through Manga” Series 】 On the strange, the obsessive, and love that doesn't ask to be understood. Perhaps it's this kind of inexplicable, unreciprocated passion, desire, and hatred that gives birth to ghost stories. As for "Tropical Fish(1995)," speaking of Asakusa, you definitely come up with Misemonogoya (Freak Show)! 📖 "Fruits of Passion" pays homage to the short comic "○": https://www.creative-comic.tw/zh/book/380/content
I remember the summer break of my sophomore year—because I took over organizing our department’s cinema festival, I decided to stay in the school dorm all summer, immersing myself in a personal, sensory journey of film appreciation. One afternoon in the campus library, I randomly picked up Tsai Ming-liang’s The River. To my surprise, it quietly and calmly depicted the atypical family experiences I had kept buried deep inside. That film stayed with me—a teenager full of anxiety about life, unsure whether I could truly take responsibility for myself—through those idle, languid summer days. Back then, there was no fiber-optic internet, no AI-powered smartphones. Just light and shadow, casting a humorous yet absurd gaze upon the hardships of reality. So here I am, recommending this film—let yourself sink into the dreamscape of its story, and let it echo the realism of our own lives.
This annual campaign, centered on amplifying the voices of those with lived experiences of poverty, is themed this year around “Home.” For some, home is a space of safety. For others, it’s wherever their loved ones are. For many, a fixed address is necessary just to access social welfare. Through a series of in-person events and curated online screenings, we aim to expand society’s understanding of “home” beyond conventional frameworks—to open a window to new imaginings of what home can be. This “window” represents not only a small yet vital need for many renters, but also a passage through which marginalized voices can reach the wider world. By opening this window, we invite society to embrace the realities of those on the margins—and in doing so, unlock new possibilities for how we all live today.