Taiwan film wins in Berlin International Film Festival
By admin on 2014-12-29

Taiwanese romantic comedy “Au Revior, Taipei” (一頁台北) on Saturday beat 11 other Asian entries to win the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival (BIFF) 2010.

Jack Yao (姚淳耀), the movie's main actor, accepted the prize on behalf of the crew. “Je t'aime Berlin!” Yao exclaimed when receiving the prize, and won loud applause from the audience. He said the prize was a great surprise to the crew and was the perfect ending to their Berlin trip. “We hope the audience would find the beauty of Taipei through the movie,” he said.

Taipei City mayor, Hau Lung-bin, congratulated the victory of “Au Revior, Taipei.”

　”The movie is an honor for Taipei City,” Hau said. “It is another successful example of the city government's cooperation with filmmakers to promote Taipei.”

Taipei's MRT system, night markets and the round-the-clock Eslite bookstore all featured prominently in the award-winning movie. The Taipei City government had helped to arrange film shoots at Taipei MRT, Daan Forest Park and Rongxing Park. For the first time, MRT staff arranged a train to run especially for the shooting, and Xiaonanmen Station was closed to film a scene involving 500-people.

“Au Revoir, Taipei” was directed by budding Taiwanese/American filmmaker, Arvin Chen (陳駿霖), and produced by acclaimed German director, Wim Wenders. The movie is about “falling in love with Taipei, finding the romance, comedy, absurdity and beauty in the city and its people,” according to Chen. It won critical acclaim at the film festival, with film critics comparing its style to the American movie “Before Sunrise” and French movie “Amelie from Montmartre.”

The movie, which uses Taipei City as its inspiration and stage, is a love story about a brokenhearted young man Kai, played by Yao. Over the course of one night, Kai yearns to leave for Paris to win his ex-girlfriend back. He meets Susie, a shop assistant played by Amber Kuo (郭采潔), while learning French at a 24-hour bookstore. At the end of the night, after many absurd encounters in the city, Kai realizes that everything Paris meant to him was already there in Taipei.

Although director Chen's parents are from Taiwan, he was born and raised in Boston and moved to Taipei in his early 20's. He worked and apprenticed under renowned Taiwanese filmmaker, Edward Yang. He won a Silver Berlin Bear-Jury Grand Prix for Short Films for a short movie “Mei” at BIFF 2007.

“Coming from an outside perspective, I found myself drawn to the little details of everyday life, of the people and of the scenes found only in Taipei,” Chen said. “Taipei is seriously one of the most beautiful cities in the world at night. There's so much light and color everywhere, and I thought we could bring that feeling to the audience, as they go on the journey with the characters from sunset to sunrise.”

“Au Revoir, Taipei” had its world premier at BIFF 2010 and will be shown in cinemas in Taiwan starting March 2.