With the great sponsorship of the TAIWAN FILM & AUDIOVISUAL INSTITUTE and TAIWAN DOCS (Taiwan documentary overseas promotion project), and the support of the Taiwan Ministry of Culture and the Taipei Representative Office in Germany, we are excited to announce the 1st Taiwan Film Festival Berlin Documentaries: Professions will launch on the 26th April 2024 at Kino Central Berlin.
Book your tickets now: https://www.kino-central.de/
2024 TffbDoc. Professions Timetable
April 26 (Fri)
18:00 A Holy Family Lu A-Liang | 2022 | Color | 88’ | Taiwanese (Min Nan), Mandarin
After 24 years of absence, director A-Liang Lu returns home to his family in a rural area of southwestern Taiwan, when his mother warns him of her deteriorating health. Having to once again face their stubborn superstition, A-Liang films his journey through mutual understanding, reconciliation and family bonds.
April 27 (Sat)
10:00 Broca's Aphasia
Su Ming-yen | 2022 | Color | 85’ | Mandarin
In a Taiwanese sex-doll hotel, glimpses of the workers’ lives and a haunting disembodied monologue reverberate.
13:00 On the Train
Hsiao Chu-chen | 2023 | Color | 106’ | Mandarin
The railroad weighs up our journeys of growing-up, witnessing all the comings and goings of the people on the line. The "Breezing Blue" train service has come to an end, once more filling the lonely Nan-hui railroad with the people and their memories, to bid its last farewell.
April 28 (Sun)
13:00 Diamond Marine World Huang Hsiu-yi | 2022 | Color | 155’ | Taiwanese (Min Nan), Mandarin, Burmese
After surviving a Ponzi scheme resulting from an information gap in Myanmar, a Taiwanese shrimp farmer, Du, collaborates with a local Chinese-Burmese, Su, to keep his shrimp business going. It is a story about how they work from the beginning to the end.
May 02 (Thu)
19:00 After Passing Away Angel Su | 2022 | Color | 118’ | Taiwanese (Min Nan), Mandarin
Yang San-eii has never owned a home, nor does he plan to join the debt game now. At the age of 50, he decides instead to construct one with his own energy and time, and opts for traditional Japanese-style carpentry that omits the need for nails.
May 03 (Fri)
13:00 The Woman Carrying the Prey Rngrang．Hungul | 2023 | Color | 69’ | Mandarin, Seedig
As winter approaches, Heydi takes her nephew to the hunting ground to explore new trails. During hunting season, Heydi shows her nephew her hunting world, on the land she has guarded for a lifetime.
18:00 Event：Body Workshop
Location: Taipeh Vertretung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Markgrafenstraße 35, Berlin)
Cost: 0 EUR
May 04 (Sat)
10:00 Manfei Chen Hwai-eng | 2017 | Color | 120’ | Mandarin
This is a story of deep yearning that introduces the life of a wonderful dancer and a great friend and teacher: Lo Man-fei. Major modern dance companies, such as Martha Graham, Pina Bausch and Hofesh Shechter, all recognize Taiwan’s standing in the dance world.
13:00 Reel Taiwan
Female Workers behind the Taiwan
MiracleWu Yii-feng | 1986 | Color | 22’ | Mandarin
Film Poster Painters
Wang Shaudi | 1986 | Color | 22’ | Mandarin
Greasy Hands (Auto Mechanics)
Wu Yii-feng | 1986 | Color | 22’ | Mandarin
Disco DJ
Yu Chien-yu | 1986 | Drama | Color | 22’ | Mandarin
May 05 (Sun)
13:00 Archiving Time
Lu Yuan-chi | 2019 | Color | 63’ | Taiwanese (Min Nan), Mandarin
Some movie superheroes save movies. They lug dollies of film reels up and down elevators. They crack open canisters adhered through decades of chemical synthesis. They have the uncanny nose for the smell of vinegar - that olfactory sign of expiration lurking beneath the celluloid corner. They are film archivists, protectors of cultural legacies.
Hsiao Chu-chen | 2016 | Color | 82’ | Taiwanese (Min Nan), Mandarin
30 key Taiwanese filmmakers – including HOU Hsiao-hsien, TSAI Ming-liang, Midi Z, LEE Lieh, WEI Te-sheng, Leon DAI, Sylvia CHANG, LIM Giong, Doze NIU Chen-zer, Tom Shu-yu LIN – talk about what it is like to make films in Taiwan nowadays, how they are profoundly affected by New Taiwan Cinema, and how hard some of them try to escape from it by making totally different kinds of films.