No.1 Cold Dew – Winter Solstice
Katthveli – FilmTaiwan
Katthveli – FilmTaiwan is an online magazine inviting Taiwanese writers, artists and creators from different generations to talk about Taiwanese films from their professional points of view, creating a platform for them to connect with European film critics who can also provide other thoughts on Taiwanese films.
Matching the rhythm of the seasons in nature, the first four issues of Katthveli are going to run over a year, inspired by the 24 solar terms: Cold Dew – Winter Solstice, Slight Cold – Spring Equinox, Pure Brightness – Summer Solstice, Slight Heat – Autumnal Equinox.
From late autumn to early winter, nature quietens in preparation for a long winter rest. In launching the magazine during this period, we hope that we can slowly prepare, start sprouting, and gradually grow.
Creating a Utopia on the Margin of Empires - In 1989, the Taiwanese government decided to adopt open measures for foreign films, in response to the impact that joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) might cause. Korea and Hong Kong also faced the same issue. Continue Reading
Conversation about Democratic Politics among the Yong Generation— Fu Yue: Dialogue Between Blue & Green (2012) - In the campaign for special municipality mayor in 1994, New Party-nominated candidate Chao Shaw-kong strategically rose the level of the election to “guarding the Republic of China.” Unscrupulously enlarging the ideological conflict between the Kuomintang (KMT, Blue) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP, Green), he set in Taipei City a battlefield of opposition and aggressive… Continue Reading
The Relation of Taiwanese Queer Film and Contemporary Taiwanese Social Movements - One could say that it is something of a tradition in Taiwan to engage with sensitive political matters through film. This began with the Taiwanese New Wave and has continued to the present. Continue Reading
To Win is To Believe We Won’t Lose, Wei Te-Sheng’s KANO Spirit - In 2008 while I was writing my Master’s thesis in London, people around me were constantly talking about Cape No. 7. The film, directed by Wei Te-Sheng, became a box office sensation in Taiwan; with a humble budget of NT$50 million, Cape No. 7 grossed NT$530 million. Continue Reading
Naming Customs of Taiwanese Aboriginals and Ethnic Politics— On What’s Your Real Name (2002) by Mayaw Biho - The Saint Lucian poet Derek Walcott, a Nobel laureate in Literature who has visited Taiwan, writes in his poem “The Schooner Flight”: “…but we live like our names and you would have to be colonial to know the difference, to know the pain of history words contain…” Continue Reading
A Bite of Happiness – The Food and Politics in On Happiness Road - Directed by Sung Hsin Yin, On Happiness Road, released in January, is an original animation, rarely seen in recent years, that investigates Taiwanese society. Continue Reading
“Le Moulin”, a throwback to Taiwan one hundred years ago; from surrealism to identity - The 2018 Taiwanese municipal elections for both mayoral and magisterial candidates were held on November 24th 2018. On the same day, a referendum on using the name Taiwan, rather than Chinese Taipei, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was held, in addition to 10 other referendums focusing on environmental and LGBT rights issues. Despite the results,… Continue Reading
Tsai Ming Liang Reconstructs the Loss of Vision – Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Soundtrack to Your Face - Over a year, Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming Liang has shown the flexibility and potential of his film world through two works. Continue Reading
Imaging a queer cinema like ours (but what that is?) - As a child growing up in Taiwan in the 90s, I was fortunate enough to witness the openness of culture brought by economic development. To some extent, queer cinema belongs in this category. For many people at that time, film festivals provided valuable opportunities to understand LGBTQ people on screens from all over the world.… Continue Reading
From Taiwanese LGBTQ Films to Taiwanese LGBTQ movement - Taiwanese queer film of the last few years have received less international attention compared to earlier films from the Taiwanese New Wave. Again, reasons for this include that more recent Taiwanese film in general remain overshadowed by the Taiwanese New Wave internationally, as well as that there is no visual language for contemporary Taiwanese film… Continue Reading