TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese Film “Nina Wu” has been selected for the “Un Certain Regard” program at the coming Cannes Film Festival, making it the first Taiwanese film to make it to the competition in more than a decade.
At a press conference held on Thursday (May 2) in Taipei, Midi Z (趙德胤), a Myanmar-born Taiwanese filmmaker, talked about his fifth feature film, “Nina Wu” (灼人秘密). “This is a film about women and Taiwan,” said the director. Rather than an art film, it is more of a thriller, he added.
This is the first time for Midi Z to be nominated for the Cannes’ competitions and the first Taiwanese film to be selected for the Un Certain Regard portion of the festival in 11 years, following award-winning director Chung Mong-hong (鍾孟宏)’s “Parking” in 2008.
► Director Midi Z and screenwirter and actress Wu Ke-xi (Source: Taiwan Film Institute)
Even though the film is set in Taiwan, “Nana Wu” is said to have been inspired by the #MeToo movement that started after a series of sexual harassment and abuse cases linked to the renown Hollywood film producer, Harvey Weinstein, made headlines, as well as the movement’ widespread impact in Japan and South Korea.
Wu Ke-xi (吳可熙), the film’s scriptwriter and female protagonist, said it did not come to her mind that her screenplay would be made into a film and that she would play a role in it, when she was writing the story. It is a film made possible by team work, she added.
The 72th Cannes Film Festival will kick off in the city of its namesake in the southeast of France from May 14 to May 25.
In addition to “Nana Wu,” three virtual reality (VR) films produced in Taiwan will also be screened in another portions of the festival, “Quinzaine des Réalisateurs,” including “Aloft,” "Chalkroom,” and “To the Moon” created by Huang Hsin-chien (黃心健) and Laurie Anderson, according to a press statement by Taiwan Film Institute (TFI).
The government, with the aim to develop the film industry and foster talent, will certainly give support for those with creative ideas, said Ting Hsiao-ching (丁曉菁), deputy minister of Culture, at the press conference.
