2023 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (TGHFF) announced its opening and closing films on August 30th. The festival will open with double features Snow in Midsummer and Be with Me, respectively helmed by Golden Horse Awards Best New Director winner CHONG Keat-aun and Best Art Direction, Best Makeup & Costume Design winner, also a long time collaborator of HOU Hsiao-Hsien, HWARNG Wern-ying; both films coincidentally inspired by faith and narrated in historical memories of Taiwan and Malaysia. The Closing Film Tales of Taipei, produced by Bowie TSANG, is a collective work of ten stories about love by directors from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Bhutan and France, starring awards winners LEE Sin-je, Karena LAM, Ethan JUAN, CHEN Shu-fang, Sammi CHENG, Stephy TANG, LIU Kuan-ting, Caitlin FANG and KUO Shu-yau.

Snow in Midsummer and Be with Me are both 2020 Golden Horse Film Project Promotion official selections; the screenings at TGHFF will also be their Asian premiere. When notified of being selected as Opening Film, CHONG Keat-aun noted, “Snow in Midsummer is a story unveiling historical scar, and a collaboration between Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore. I am truly honored to open the festival with it, especially on the 60th Anniversary of Golden Horse Awards.” HWARNG Wern-ying also remarked, “Memory and yearning are the creative source for this film. Xuantian Shandi embodies the faith of my grandfather, the god worshiped by the family over six generations, representing a force of stability and yearning for the grandfather by the family. Through the hundred-year of ups and downs in Taiwan history, we realize the meaning of life. I hope this film will touch the audience and bring back the strength within”

Malaysian director CHONG Keat-aun has won the Golden Horse Awards Best New Director, FIPRESCI Award and Best Film of NETPAC in 2020 with his debut feature The Story of Southern Islet. His sophomore work Snow in Midsummer stars renowned actress Pearlly CHUA, Wan Fang and Rexen CHENG. It is a story spanning nearly half a century about two generations of females, the troupe master and the Nyonya offspring, in the background of the 13 May Incident in Malaysia, interweaving the mythical belief and street opera into a historical fable.

Acclaimed art director HWARNG Wern-ying has won the Golden Horse Awards Best Art Direction and Best Makeup & Costume Design with Flowers of Shanghai and The Assassin, respectively. Be with Me is her debut feature as director and writer, inspired by her own family. The film depicts a woman stumbling on her love life, career and family returns home to take care of her sickening father and recalls her childhood with grandfather. Through the heritage of family belief spanning three generations and the hundred-year history, she eventually finds her own belief in life and love. Be with Me has HOU Hsiao-hsien as the executive producer and stars Golden Bell Awards Best Leading Actress Ariel LIN, along with Vic CHOU, Ethan JUAN and CHANG Hsiao-chuan.

Tales of Taipei, produced by Bowie TSANG, will have its world premiere at TGHFF. In the backdrop of the city of Taipei, directors CHONG Keat-aun, Joseph HSU Chen-chieh, YIN Chen-hao, WONG Yee-lam, Rachid Hami, Pawo Choyning Dorji and Amy MA bring diverse viewpoints exploring the versatile faces of love, crossing time, age, gender, nationality and even life/death. The film also features a marvelous cast including Sammi CHENG, LIU Kuan-ting, LEE Sin-je, KUO Shu-yau, Stephy TANG, TSAI Chen-nan, Ethan JUAN, Karena LAM, Sandrine PINNA, Karim LEKLOU, LIN Ju, Caitlin FANG and CHEN Shu-fang. Bowing TSANG expressed her excitement of having the film premiered at Golden Horse, “this is not an easy project to accomplish, requiring ten times of efforts for everything. Everyone involved with the project holds an unmatched passion for cinema and for this land of ours. Being the Closing Film on the 60th Anniversary of Golden Horse is a supreme honor to the crew. Thank you Golden Horse, and we wish everyone loves this film.”

The 2023 Golden Horse Film Festival will be held between November 9th and 26th; Audiences’ Guide will be held in the evening of October 27th and tickets on sale at 1PM, October 28th on the official website. More info and details of the line-up will be released, please stay tuned.