The Kaohsiung Film Festival Celebrates a Decade 十年有成 邁入第10年的高雄電影節
The Kaohsiung Film Festival Celebrates a Decade
◎English Written by Lin Yi-chun
◎Photos courtesy by Kaohsiung Film Archive, Yang Chan-hua, Hou Ya-ting
Taiwan boasts a number of film festivals and with the four most popular held in October and November. These festivals include The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, The Taiwan International Documentary Festival in Taichung, the touring Female Film Festival and The Kaohsiung Film Festival. Due to the fact there is a variety of film festivals held throughout the year, making The Kaohsiung Film Festival's celebration of its ten year anniversary is a true achievement.
Kaohsiung's film festival was created at a time when many film festivals were beginning. However, ten years later only the Kaohsiung Film Festival and The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival remain. The Kaohsiung Film Festival has been successful over the years due to Kaohsiung City Government ongoing support and its special themes that differentiate it from others.
Cinema has also changed dramatically over the past 10 years. In the past, people preferred to see only the latest works, from master filmmakers. These days people prefer to go to their local theatres to see mainstream movies, leaving film festivals forced to present something more unique. However, this also posed a greater challenge for festival organizers who were in charge of selecting films. Most of the films screened during Kaohsiung's festival may not have won major awards at larger international film festivals; however they present a unique point of view.
The 2010 Kaohsiung Film Festival theme is "Love & Eros". This includes topics of love, desire and challenging traditional taboos. Some features include the shocking film Fruits of Love, by Shuji Terayama and Districted, a collaboration created by various avant-garde artists. These films both exemplify the subversion of the main stream.
This year also had a fantasy theme. These films included many KUSO style films with surprising twists in the plot. Two fantasy films include a Thai film that was a Cannes winner and a Serbian film that exhibits the peculiar Eastern European humor that was a result from years of war. Both of these international movies are worth seeing.
Featured director Nithiwat Tharatorn from Thailand and poetic director Reha Erdem from Turkeys are both newcomers to filmmaking and whose works exhibit themes of love and fantasy. Their styles are free and untraditional. Other films that exemplify this youthful spirit are American independent film Spirit Awards, short film New Taiwan Experience, and Asian film People Power. These films raise concerns about modern society, love and injustice. As innocent or immature as they may appear, they exhibit a spirit that makes the Kaohsiung Film Festival so attractive.
十年有成
邁入第10年的高雄電影節
◎文／御飯團
◎照片提供／高雄市電影圖書館、楊蟬華、侯雅婷
如果你是一位影迷，翻開行事曆，就會發現台灣是個「影展王國」，在10~11月間，著名的台北金馬國際影展、台中台灣國際紀錄片雙年展、巡迴各地的女性影展，以及高雄電影節輪番登場。一年到頭各地影展不斷，如何在眾多影展中脫穎而出，持續舉辦，是相當大的考驗。
今年邁入第十年的高雄電影節，開辦之初，是在各縣市舉辦影展熱潮下因應而生，十年過後，以城市為名的電影節，僅剩下一南一北的高雄電影節與台北電影節，除了高雄市政府的全力支持外，高雄電影節走出自己的特色，也是一大關鍵。
台灣的觀影環境，在這十年間有極大變化，以往只能透過金馬國際影展看到的大師新作，如今都可在院線看到，也使各地影展越辦越艱難，如何端出其他影展看不到的菜色，考驗著各影展的策展人。
高雄電影節之所以能歡慶十年，就是找到屬於自己風格，奇幻成了高雄電影節最吸引影迷的地方。影片或許不盡然會在坎城、威尼斯榮獲大獎，卻勇於顛覆主流，講出自己的話。
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今年的主題為「愛慾星球」，以「愛」與「慾望」為基調並挑戰禁忌，例如當年讓人大吃一驚的寺山修司「上海異人娼館」，或是多位知名前衛藝術家合作的「性愛禁區」，都有如此顛覆的勇氣。
「幻想無限」單元更彰顯著高雄電影節的特色，包含大量充滿KUSO精神的影片，往往有出人意表的劇情。在國家的專題，則選擇泰國及塞爾維亞為雙主題。今年在坎城大出風頭的泰國，就是靠著幻想（鬼片、佛教）揚名於世，至於一向不為台灣熟悉的賽爾維亞，擁有東歐在長年戰火餘生下的奇特幽默，都值得大家觀賞。
扣緊這兩個主軸，在「焦點導演」單元上選擇了泰國的「純愛導演」尼堤瓦特‧泰拉托恩Nithiwat Tharatorn 及土耳其的「電影詩人」雷哈‧艾登Reha Erdem，這兩位在國際影壇竄起的導演，分別代表了「愛」與「幻想」，帶著不受框架拘束的風格。這種年輕世代、不畏世俗的精神，同樣展現在「美國獨立精神獎精選」、「新台風」、「東京國際短片影展」、「人民力量」身上，透過影像，對社會的溫暖、愛情、不公不義都提出自己的社會關照，這些關照，或許純真、或許不夠成熟，但這就是高雄電影節最吸引人的地方。