Each year, TaiwaneseAmerican.org is pleased to support the premier Asian American Film Festival in the San Francisco/Bay Area. CAAM Fest, the Center for Asian American Media’s annual festival features not only amazing works in film, TV, and digital media, but now also includes showcases in music and food. This festival is a treasure trove of great Asian American works from established as well as emerging talent.
This year, we proudly co-present one of the Taiwan films during this 10 day festival. We invite you to join TaiwaneseAmerican.org in supporting the Asian and Asian American arts & media community by attending the films and festivities!
This year’s Taiwan films include:
Thanatos, Drunk
Directed by Tso-chi Chang
Taiwan / 2015 / Narrative / 107 mins / Mandarin with English subtitles
Co-presented by: TaiwaneseAmerican.org
Screenings:
March 12, 2016 9:50 pm @ Roxie Theatre
March 19, 2016 5:10 pm @ New Parkway Theater
Read more. Buy tickets here: http://caamfest.com/2016/films/thanatos-drunk/
Precariously swaying on the fringe of existence, THANATOS, DRUNK tells an ambiguously rocky yet intimate story of love and loss. With a beer can in hand at all times, Rat can’t help but escape underlying experiences of death and grief. As he takes hobby in befriending ants, buying pig heads and bringing putrid fish home, the multifaceted memory of his mother transfers to romantic, violent and repulsive moments in his life.
Meanwhile, his gigolo friend Shuo is caught in a magnetic affair with his wife, Rat’s gay brother and their cousin — there’s no turning a blind eye away from the consequences. With moist sunlight on the town’s musty shacks, Taiwanese director Tso-Chi Chang paints a saturated and whirling narrative, where inebriated and helpless mortal demons dance with the gods of death.
No stranger to characters on the margins of society, Tso-Chi Chang (WHEN LOVE COMES) thoughtfully hits the mark again with THANATOS, DRUNK. Teetering on passionate yet murky relationships, it’s a question of whether love and life have a place among those of the netherworld.
— Diana Li, CAAM
The KidsDirected by Sunny Yu
Taiwan / 2015 / International Narratives / 90 mins / Mandarin with English subtitles / Color / San Francisco Premiere
Co-presented by: Taiwanese American Professionals (TAP-SF)
Screenings:
March 12, 2016 4:00 pm @ Alamo Drafthouse
March 20, 2016 7:10 pm @ New People Cinema
Read more. Buy tickets here: http://caamfest.com/2016/films/kids/
Bao-Li wants to do what’s best for his wife, Jia-Jia, and their infant daughter. Despite his love of family, he grapples with his desires, which may be his undoing. From director Sunny Yu, THE KIDS is a story of how love and sacrifice are often intertwined.
Bao-Li and Jia-Jia are two teenagers trying their best to navigate adolescence and parenthood at the same time. They don’t immediately connect as soulmates, but their chance meeting on the school rooftop is enough to bind them indefinitely. Before long, Jia-Jia gets pregnant. Soon, their lives are turned upside-down as they are forced to give up the last shreds of their childhood as they’re thrusted into the reality of parenthood.
Abandoning school to work tirelessly, they quickly realize that love isn’t always enough to keep a family together, putting the two young parents in difficult positions. When you’re young, all your decisions should be about your growth and progress — but Bao-Li and Jia-Jia can’t afford that luxury.
— Jillian Kizer, CAAM
Other CAAMFest Films with Taiwanese involvement include:
Pali Road, a thrilling love story and drama that stars a world-renowned cast including Taiwanese superstar 陳妍希 Michelle Chen (那些年，我們一起追的女孩, You Are the Apple of my Eye)
http://caamfest.com/2016/films/pali-road/
3688, a musical dramedy that features late Taiwanese singer Feng Fei-Fei’s music in this Singaporean box office hit.
http://caamfest.com/2016/films/3688/
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