Kung Fu

Source: Golden Horse Goes To Cannes

‘Kung Fu’

The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival is to showcase five upcoming Taiwanese projects at Cannes including features from Chen Yu-hsun, Yang Ya-che, Huang Xi, Giddens Ko and John Hsu with stars such as Wu Kang-ren, Gingle Wang, Kai Ko, Caitlin Fang and Karena Lam.

The new programme, titled Golden Horse Goes To Cannes, comprises works-in-progress projects and will be presented to industry professionals on May 16 at Palais K during the Cannes Film Festival. It marks Golden Horse’s first collaboration with the Marche du Film.

See below for full project list

The collaboration was initiated by Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee and the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, with the support of Ministry of Culture under the 1plus4─T-content plan.

The five projects feature many past winners and nominees of the Golden Horse Awards, from the filmmakers to the cast, and includes The Chronicles Of Libidoists by director Yang whose previous film The Bold, The Corrupt And The Beautiful won the best film prize at the Golden Horse Awards in 2017.

Dead Talents Society is the first original Taiwan project backed by Sony Pictures International in almost two decades and is set for release this summer. Director Hsu’s 2019 feature debut Detention was both a huge commercial success, taking more than $8m at the local box office, and a winner of five Golden Horse Awards including best new director and best adapted screenplay.

Kung Fu marks the latest film by novelist-turned-director Giddens Ko who has published 82 novels to date. He is best known as the director of hit films You Are The Apple Of My Eye and Till We Meet Again.

A Foggy Tale is directed by veteran Chen whose previous works played in the Berlinale and Locarno. His previous credits include Zone Pro Site: The Moveable Feast and My Missing Valentine, which was remade into Japanese film One Second Ahead Of Her.

Daughter’s Daughter is the second film by director Huang Xi who has previously collaborated with producers Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Sylvia Chang (who also stars in the new film) in HBO series Twisted Strings. China-based Rediance handles international sales.

Golden Horse Goes To Cannes

The Chronicles Of Libidoists
Dir. Yang Ya-che
Pros. Jeffrey Chan, Liu Wei-jan
Cast: Wu Kang-ren, Liu Chu-ping, Alisia Liang, Will Or
The story unfolds with an allegorical inspiration from well-known fairy tale The Little Mermaid, in which a mermaid princess falls in love with a prince it saves from drowning, with a twist of the mermaid being a young boy. 

Dead Talents Society
Dir. John Hsu
Pros. Lee Lieh, Aileen Li, Ivy Chen
Cast: Chen Bo-lin, Sandrine Pinna, Gingle Wang
A ghost must be frightening enough to sustain in this realm. It becomes imperative to navigate challenges and establish a reputation by eliciting fear, thus evolving into a legendary spectre. 

Kung Fu
Dir. Giddens Ko
Pros. Lu Wei-chun, Giddens Ko
Cast: Leon Dai, Kai Ko, Berant Zhu
Two loser high school students meet a wandering old man with unparalleled martial arts skills. Together, they not only strive to restore justice to their city but also unravel the mystery of the old man’s identity. 

A Foggy Tale
Dir. Chen Yu-hsun
Pros. Yeh Jufeng, Lee Lieh
Cast: Caitlin Fang, Will Or, 9m88
Two people with no relations become friends in need and embark on a journey that may cost them their lives. 

Daughter’s Daughter
Dir. Huang Xi
Pros. Hou Hsiao-hsien, Sylvia Chang
Cast: Sylvia Chang, Karena Lam
In her 60s and divorced, Jin learns that her only daughter Zuer and Zuer’s partner Jiayi died in an accident. Knowing Zuer tried IVF in New York, Jin inherited Zuer’s embryo with its fate in her hands. Meanwhile, she must face Emma, the daughter she gave up for adoption when she was 16.

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