Taipei, Dec. 21 (CNA) "Abiding Nowhere," (無所住) a new film by Taiwan-based Malaysian director Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), will be screened as part of a special program at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.
The annual festival unveiled Wednesday a raft of titles to be screened in its Berlinale Special, a program which also includes "Cuckoo," a horror film written and directed by Tilman Singer.
"Abiding Nowhere" is the 10th installation in Tsai's Walker series, a suite of meditative performance films that capture Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-sheng (李康生), dressed as a Buddhist monk, deliberately traversing public and private spaces across a range of world cities.
According to Tsai, it will be the second time that a film in his Walker series, which was produced from 2012 to 2022, is to be screened at the Berlinale Special.
The Malaysian filmmaker said Wednesday that he was inspired to do the Walker project after watching Lee perform the stage play "Only You" (只有你) in 2011.
"I wanted to create a modern version of Xuanzang who travels slowly around the world and with each destination a new episode," he said.
Xuanzang was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk and pilgrim who traveled to Central Asia and India and translated the sacred scriptures of Buddhism from Sanskrit into Chinese.
People look at the walker because he walks slowly, but at the same time, they also get to observe the world, Tsai said.
The filmmaker said he was able to complete 10 Walker series films in 10 years with the last one being shot in Washington.
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival will be held from Feb. 15-25, 2024 in Berlin, Germany.
