Taipei, June 22 (CNA) The 25th edition of the Taipei Film Festival opened Thursday evening with the premiere of author-cum-director Giddens Ko's (九把刀) new romantic comedy, "Miss Shampoo."
Speaking with reporters, Ko said he was thrilled that his latest movie, an adaptation of his 2010 novel "Precisely Out of Control," would be premiered at the Taipei Zhongshan Hall, where he made his directorial debut in 2011 with "You Are the Apple of My Eye."
"Miss Shampoo" tells a romantic story between an aspiring apprentice hairdresser played by actress Vivian Sung (宋芸樺) and a passionate gang leader played by Hung Yu-hung (洪瑜鴻), who is better known for his part in the Taiwanese hip hop group, Nine One One.
Another movie that will be premiered in Taiwan at the film festival, which will run through July 8, is "One Second Ahead, One Second Behind," a Japanese adaptation of Golden Horse Best Feature winner "My Missing Valentine."
According to organizers, the film's director Nobuhiro Yamashita and lead actor Masaki Okada will attend the premiere on Friday evening and interact with movie fans after the showing.
As part of the festival's "Filmmaker in Focus" program, five movies by German writer-director Angela Schanelec will be shown, including "I Was at Home, But...," which bagged the Silver Bear for Best Director at Berlin International Film Festival in 2019.
In addition, four movies directed by Belgian filmmaker Bas Devos will also be screened during the festival under the same program, including "Ghost Tropic" and "Hellhole."
The two-week festival will be followed by the Taipei Film Awards ceremony held on the evening of July 8, when the Grand Prize, featuring a trophy and NT$1 million (US$32,325) in prize money, will be presented to a Taiwanese film nominated for best feature, best documentary, best shot film or best animation.
Director Lin Chun-yang's (林君陽) movie inspired by the 2003 SARS outbreak in Taiwan, "Eye of the Storm," leads this year's awards with 13 nominations, including best feature, best director and best screenplay.
Other movies that are up for Best Feature are last year's Golden Horse Awards Best Feature winner "Coo-Coo 043," as well as "Gaga," "The Abandoned," and "Bad Education."
Lin, known for his TV series "Wave Makers" and "The World Between Us," will also compete for Best Director with documentary filmmaker Tsai Tsung-Lung (蔡崇隆), and Laha Mebow (陳潔瑤), who won Best Director at the 2022 Golden Horse Awards for "Gaga," among others.
