Ms. Lin -The Retouching Lady

Lin Shih-chun

Taiwan｜2020｜27min

Despite its waning importance, film retouching was the earliest method for improving images and subject appearances before the emergence of digital photography. Lin Lian, a film retoucher, is the daughter of a photography studio owner. After learning from her father, she was commissioned by studios across Taiwan to retouch photographs. This film examines Lin’s personal life during the period she worked, including when she was married, became a parent, and retired, while also reflecting on memories of an earlier age.

Rama and Rara

Zheng Wei-xuan

Taiwan｜2020｜26min

In 2016, Rama and Rara embarked on an adventure as they moved with their parents from Indonesia to Taiwan.

Today, You Are You

Chen Kuan-chun

Taiwan｜2020｜18min

After beginning his transgender journey at age 18, Tyler has become a young man who will no longer be mistaken for a woman. Having finally achieved harmony between mind and body, can the pain Tyler felt from his earlier gender identity struggles be cured? Tyler’s family also must come to terms with their child as he begins a new life as a son, brother, and boyfriend.

The Wild Boys

Liao Jian-hua

Taiwan｜2020｜24min

Yu Hao-wei, a drama teacher who as a troubled student once started a fire inside a classroom, now works with rebellious youth. Using dramatic performances as a medium for expression, Yu gives the youths a positive outlet to escape the shackles of a school and society that they feel confine them.

The Old Men’s Party

Lin Tse-yu

Taiwan｜2020｜22min

“We don’t discuss politics, religion, only talk about women!” After several glasses of Kaoliang liquor, nobody heeds Brother Cao’s edict.
Every night for the past 30 years, Brother Cao has drunk several glasses of liquor while sitting near the entryway to his home. This has become a gathering place for old men. After retiring, Brother Cao’s values changed. He and his drinking buddy Xiao-lai engage in banter on a variety of topics, getting thoughts that come to mind off their chest.

Lives with Illness

Hsin Pei-yi

Taiwan｜2020｜22min

My uncle is a blank space to me. When he left us, I had only just learned how to stand. I knew nothing about him.
The adults never talked about him. He was a family secret, only spoken of in vague comments such as “He was crazy” or direct pronouncements such as “He killed himself by drinking pesticides.” Thirty years have passed, and the family describes away his death as a result of a mental illness. Things that are seen but not spoken remain buried in the heart. Everything is mixed together.

My Way

Su Mei-yu

Taiwan｜2020｜25min

Lin Yun-chen, who grew up in a coastal fishing village in Yunlin, moved to the city for high school while her parents stayed behind. Following a car accident, however, Lin decided to return to her hometown. She joined her father on boating trips to catch eels and helped him to farm tiger prawns. Prawn farming is a difficult task, but no matter the yield, Yun-chen always thought back to her father’s words of wisdom: “If you are willing to work hard here, even if you have to get everything from the sea, you will find a way to survive.”

Sung’s Family

Sung Yan-fei

Taiwan｜2020｜27min

Quy, now 48, decided in her youth to come to Taiwan to marry in order to provide a better life for her family. She said: “Marrying somebody overseas is like drawing lots: some people have good fortune and some people have bad fortune.” Quy is now divorced. She is also my mother, which makes me what everyone refers to as a “second-generation new immigrant.”
I experienced firsthand the effects of a broken cross-cultural marriage. We still live in a small village in Puli, Nantou. We survived the 921 Earthquake, but different ways of thinking eventually tore our family apart.

Ning

Chen Wei-chieh

Taiwan｜2020｜30min

Peter crosses the road, rides the metro, has an interview, buys food, watches TV while eating, dances, and gets lost.
His mother buys a hat, cleans, hopes that Peter gets a job, watches TV, and falls down.
His sister works, uses the telephone to call for help, and discharges Peter from the hospital.
Wei-chieh follows these family members and films their lives. He conceals what needs to be concealed, listens, then chooses segments to show.

My Silly Flirty Boys

Sin Ho-yeung

Hong Kong｜2020｜28min

The dancer Fufu posted an anecdote about homosexuality he shared with another dancer, Josh, and received a strong response, which led to the channel FJ234. The attention brought greater pressure to Fufu, however, as he began to question his relationship to the LGBT community. Fufu wondered whether he could freely become the person he wanted to be or was turning into a person that people expect him to be.

Versus

Chang Tzu-hsiang、Dai Wei

Taiwan、China｜2020｜29min

In the far north of Taiwan on the Matsu Islands, there is a group of youths who use wrestling as a daily form of venting their energy. While preparing to compete against their opponents, they also must overcome personal challenges. Living on this cold, humid island, wrestling gives them direction.

Hide: Price of Freedom

Chan Lok-ray

Hong Kong｜2020｜20min

In the summer of 2019, there was a social movement in Hong Kong that has not yet subsided. More than 1 million Hong Kong people took to the streets to oppose the extradition bill. The Hong Kong government took high-handed measures to deal with it, and police violence continued to escalate.