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A strong lineup from Taiwan hits the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, with two world premieres in the special presentations strand, a Taiwan-Japan genre title in Midnight
Madness, virtual reality, market projects and an international Oscar contender. Feng-I Fiona Roan’s “Happily Ever After” will make its world premiere in special presentations. The film is Roan’s sophomore feature following “American Girl,” which won five prizes at Taiwan’s 2021 Golden Horse Awards. Where “American Girl” examined tensions between a mother and daughter, Roan’s new film turns to sisterhood and the expectations placed on women to conform to competing definitions of happiness. The feature also marks Taiwanese singer and TV personality Shu-hua’s film acting debut. Also world premiering in special presentations is Malaysian filmmaker Edmund Yeo’s “The Age of Goodbyes,” a Taiwan-Malaysia co-production adapted from Li Zi Shu’s novel. Moving across different periods, the film stars Taiwanese actors Vivian Sung and Troy Liu in interconnected stories shaped by love, loss and the legacy of Malaysia’s May 13, 1969, racial violence. Taiwanese producer David Tang met Yeo at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum, where he was drawn to the director’s interpretation of the novel. Renaissance Films subsequently joined the project as its lead Taiwanese production partner. The film was shot entirely in Malaysia, with a Taiwanese team leading cinematography, lighting and costume, working alongside Yeo’s Malaysian team, which oversaw production design. Post-production was completed in Taiwan, while Taiwanese financing accounted for the larger share of the jointly structured production. “Taiwanese cinema has been a profound influence on me throughout my journey as a filmmaker, particularly the films of Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien,” Yeo tells Variety. Yeo’s Taiwanese collaborators included sound designer Tu Duu-chih and his son Tu Chun Tang, cinematographer Chen Chi-wen, Sung and Liu. The director says Tang was instrumental in shaping the film and assembling its cross-border creative team. “The story is deeply rooted in Malaysia, but the film grew out of a genuine creative exchange between Malaysia and Taiwan,” Yeo says. Taiwan-Japan co-production “Arrested Memory,” directed by Japanese filmmaker Sabu, will receive its North American premiere in Midnight Madness following its out-of-competition bow at Venice. Ethan Juan stars as a decorated detective diagnosed with early-onset memory loss after a disastrous sting operation. Entrusted with a multimillion-dollar ransom but unable to remember its source or intended recipient, he is sent into an overnight pursuit involving both police officers and criminals. Sabu says Taiwan’s blend of contemporary cityscapes and older neighborhoods gave the story the temporal ambiguity he was seeking. “Taiwan has a unique atmosphere that allows audiences to enter the story with a slight sense of uncertainty, wondering, ‘What era are we in?’” Sabu tells Variety. “New and old coexist naturally, and traces of everyday life remain embedded in the streets.” Taiwan is also represented in TIFF: The Market. Singing Chen’s Taiwan-Germany co-production “The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up” will have its Canadian premiere in the Innovation Hub. Adapted from a story by Taiwanese author Wu Ming-Yi, the free-roaming VR experience follows a grieving man into the mountains and the sacred origin mythology of Taiwan’s Indigenous Rukai people. Hsinmei Cheng’s feature project “Argus Inside” has been selected for the International Financing and Project Market. Set against an escalating international struggle over semiconductor technology, the thriller places Taiwan at the center of a looming chip war. Taiwan will also host a Sept. 13 special screening at TIFF Lightbox pairing Chen Yu-hsun’s “A Foggy Tale,” its submission for the international feature Oscar, with Golden Horse-winning documentary short “Fragments of Herstory.” Together, the lineup positions Taiwan not only as a source of local filmmaking talent, but also as a production, financing and post-production partner for stories moving across Asia and the international festival circuit.
