![A still from "Unexpected Passenger," a finalist in Sundance Film Festival Asia short film competition. (Sundance Film Festival photo)](https://image.taiwannews.com.tw/2023%2F08%2F08%2F582db0be415647088710329126e3d5d1.jpg "A still from "Unexpected Passenger," a finalist in Sundance Film Festival Asia short film competition. (Sundance Film Festival photo)")
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei’s Huashan 1914 Creative Park is the host next week of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival Asia.
The previous installment of the film festival in 2022 was held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Bringing the festival to Taipei will give a spark to young filmmakers eager to break through to international audiences. One part of the three-day program is the highly anticipated short film competition, with nine selections chosen out of 250 entries, per a festival press release.
Local filmmakers and their work which made the final selection cut include: "Afterlife" (Huang Sheng-chun 薛若儀 and Hsueh Lo-yi 黃聖鈞), "Ant Hotel" (Teng Yu-hsuan 鄧又瑄 ), "Are We Good?" (Annie Hsu 許紘瑄), "Burning" (Tang Hao 唐豪), "Is This Now The Time I Should Let You Go?" (Tsai Yi-chin 蔡易錦), "The Rubbings of Trajectories" (Chung Cheng-hsu 鍾承旭), "The Train of Memories" (Chen Chih-ming 陳志明), "Tuo Tuo" ( An Chu 朱建安), and "Unexpected Passenger" (Hsia Jui-chien 夏睿謙).
The Jury Award for Best Short Film will be announced at the festival’s opening reception on Aug. 18, and will be followed by special screenings of the short film competition finalists at the SPOT Huashan Cinema. Previous short film winners have successfully gone on to be shown at the main Sundance Film Festival in Utah and other similar worldwide acclaimed film festivals.
Tickets for the short film competition are on sale now at the following link, with limited availability due to venue size.
In addition to the short film competition, panel discussions and master classes will be part of the festival, including a talk with director Justin Lin of the "Fast & Furious" Hollywood franchise, and talks with Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming Kim Yutani and Sundance Senior Programmer Heidi Zwicker.
Sundance programmers will discuss how the festival selects films each year and how it engages with industry and artists.
The festival will also include feature-length film screenings of up-and-coming independent film directors. This includes the films: "Jamojaya" (Justin Chon), "Shortcomings" (Randall Park), and "Sometimes I Think About Dying" (Rachel Lambert). Tickets for film screenings are also on sale now at the following link.
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival Asia is co-organized by G2Go Entertainment and the Sundance Institute, in partnership with Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) and Taipei City, and supported by the Taiwan Women’s Film Association.
Additional sponsorship comes from Cathay Financial Holdings, with special thanks to SPOT Huashan Cinema, Kavalan, Regent Hotel Taipei, Ambassador Hotel Group, Barco, and the State of Utah.
