The first Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh presents, as part of the event section, an exciting panel discussion hosted by Cinetopia's director and founder Amanda Rogers, where Wafa Ghermani, Chris Berry and Wang Yi will share their thoughts on Taiwanese Hokkien-Language films, film noir and queer films.
Cinetopia's director Amanda Rogers said: “It is quite an honour for Cinetopia to be collaborating with the Taiwan Film Festival on this part of the programme, and I'm thrilled that this new Festival is offering an incredible lineup of Taiwanese films and curated discussions for our local film community.”
Audiences will have an opportunity to submit their questions for the Q&As and panel discussion by commenting on the live streams on YouTube or in advance on Twitter or Facebook by using #TaiwanFFE.
Professor Chris Berry
Chris Berry will talk about his project “Taiwan's Lost Commercial Cinema” and its two iterations in 2017 and 2020. He is a Professor of Film Studies at King's College London and his research focuses on films from the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora.
He has curated film seasons, including “A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire: The Cultural Revolution in the Cinema” for the Film Archiv Austria in 2011. He also works on the Chinese Visual Festival in London and has served on various film festival juries. His publications include Cinema and the National: China on Screen (with Mary Farquhar); TV China, and Mobile Cultures: New Media and Queer Asia.
Dr Wafa Ghermani
Wafa Ghermani will discuss Taiwanese cult films with a special focus on the 70s and 80s film noir. Her PhD focused on Taiwan cinema and national identity from the Japanese colonial period to now. She currently works at the Cinémathèque Française and is a curator at many festivals and Taiwan film-related events such as Vesoul International Asian Film Festival, Warsaw Five Flavours Film Festival and Rencontres du cinéma taiwanais in Paris, among others.
Her recent contributions include the forewords to the translation of the script of A City of Sadness into French, « Le cinéma taiwanais : repenser la marginalité comme centralité », « 自然的內在風景與性別張力：評潘壘《颱風》 in 《電影欣賞》 Film Appreciation, «Exils: de la nostalgie à la reconquête du passé dans le cinéma ».
WANG Yi
Wang Yi is the director and programmer of Queer East Film Festival taking place in late September, which includes a “Made in Taiwan” section dedicated to Taiwanese queer films. He will argue the role of cinema in the civil rights movements in Taiwan and the unique position of Taiwan in the global LGBTQ+ movement. Queer East Film Festival is a newly founded initiative aiming to showcase rarely seen LGBTQ+ cinema from East and Southeast Asian countries and amplify the voices of the Asian community in the UK.
Working as a creative producer with primary interests in performing arts, films and festivals, Yi Wang has been involved in a variety of roles for arts and cultural events management in the past three years. He holds a master's degree from Goldsmiths, University of London in Brands, Communication and Culture.
