Chinese Diaspora Filmmakers: The Case of Midi Z

he Asia Dialogue
Date: September 7, 2019
By: Maja Korbecka.

In recent years most representatives of Taiwanese cinema to gain recognition at the international film festivals have come from Chinese diasporas in Southeast Asia. Directors like Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), Wi Ding Ho (何蔚庭) and the increasingly celebrated Midi Z (趙德胤) migrated to Taiwan for education and to pursue a career. Now they are featured at events co-organised by Taiwanese film institutions and representing Taiwanese cinema at film festivals, influencing the way Taiwan is seen internationally.

This is one example of the global phenomenon of transnational cinema. Here Taiwanese cinema is characterised by artistic mindsets and film poetics shown through on-screen storytelling influenced by cross-cultural aesthetics. These aesthetics focus on the representation of migration, exilic or diasporic experiences, and are themselves encompassed in the movement of labour, modes of co-production, international distribution, exhibition and reception, and the consequences of cross-national capital exchanges. Through analysing film narratives, director backgrounds as well as modes of production and exhibition, it is possible to glimpse the complexity of the interplay between national cinema and transnational practices. Such interplay continues to transform film histories, undermining exclusionary monolithic national narratives in favour of more multifaceted and personal accounts of hybridity and diversity.

The filmmaker’s use of guerrilla techniques stylistically shapes the work and adds layers of possible interpretations by focusing on state control and surveillance    [FULL  STORY]

The Harvard Crimson
Date: August 25, 2019
By: Ifeoluwani E. Omidiran, Contributing Writer

Rayna Yun Chou, a classically trained violist, is partnering with Celebrity Series of Boston to produce Concert for One, a series of minute-long concerts that bring together one musician and one listener for an intimate performance. The public program will take place Sept. 20 to 29 in the Harvard Science Center Plaza and Chin Park on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston. Chou first staged Concert for One in Taichung City, Taiwan, in an effort to bridge the divide between classical musicians and everyday listeners, and the project attracted thousands of listeners.

The Harvard Crimson sat down with Chou to talk about the program, her own music practice, and the future of classical music.    [FULL  INTERVIEW]

The 2019 Taiwan International Queer Film Festival runs from 8/15 to 8/25 in Taipei and from 8/28 to 9/8 in Kaohsiung. This film review is based on a complimentary media screening.

The news Lens
Date: 2019/08/20
By: CJ Sheu

The first hint we get that Gabriel’s (Gaston Re) infatuation with Juan (Alfonso Barón) may not be in vain is when Juan asks Gabriel if he’s seeing someone. Gabriel answers “sort of” and Juan follows up with, “What’s their name?” It’s an oblique yet clear signal in a film constructed out of suggestions and implications.

Written, directed, and edited by Argentine Marco Berger, The Blond One (Un Rubio 2019) spent most of its 108 minutes on furtive glances and smoldering stares, lustful envy and tension-filled rooms, and the anguished push and pull between the two men in their late twenties or early thirties.

The blond and relatively pale-faced Gabriel (an angelic name) rents a room from furniture factory coworker Juan, who like his namesake Don Juan has a voracious sexual appetite. In a film with a spare soundtrack (by Pedro Irusta), the techno music coming from somewhere in the apartment incites our and Gabriel’s curiosity; turns out it’s coming from Juan’s room, from which a naked woman (Julieta Tramanzoli) emerges, followed by an equally naked Juan. That music, the credits inform us, is called “Tecno Sex,” and indeed we hear it every time Juan has a lady over.

Having a techno-loving womanizer as a flatmate would be bad enough, but what makes it worse is that Gabriel has an obvious crush on him. He sneaks glances whenever they’re together in the living room, usually with some of Juan’s guy friends, and is pleasantly uncomfortable when Juan, reaching over, puts a hand very high up Gabriel’s thigh for support. Is it innocent? or very subtle flirting?    [FULL  STORY]

ComicBook.com
Date: August 10, 2019
By: Evan Valentine

Netflix has dived head first into the world of anime. With the recently released documentary, Enter the Anime, as well as the upcoming original series of Cannon Busters, Hero Mask Part 2, and Carole & Tuesday. The train keeps rolling however as Netflix has just announced that they'll be partnering with Taiwan on a brand new anime series called "Eden". The new franchise will follow a red-haired girl that was raised by two robots that all live in a dystopian future populated with almost nothing but other robots. Netflix is trying its hand at becoming the number one anime streaming service around!

Twitter Source Anime Report shared the news from the Taipei Times that breaks down the partnership between Netflix and Taiwan, and their upcoming series that follows the denizens of Eden 3 dropping next year, 2020:    [FULL  STORY]