A Foggy Tale

Source: Golden Horse Film Festival

‘A Foggy Tale’

The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (TGHFF) will kick off with the world premiere of Taiwanese director Chen Yu-hsun’s A Foggy Tale and close with Japanese director Tetsuya Mariko’s Dear Stranger, starring Hidetoshi Nishijima who will also be the festival’s Filmmaker-in-Focus, and Taiwanese star Gwei Lun-mei.

The directors and main cast will present their film at the opening and closing of TGHFF, which runs from November 6-23.

A Foggy Tale is set in the era of Taiwan’s White Terror and follows the journey of a young girl from Chiayi City who travels to the north to reclaim the remains of her brother. The period drama features director Chen’s grassroots humour and explores the ambiguous thin line between the good and evil of human nature.

The cast is led by Caitlin Fang, Golden Horse best new performer winner for 2022’s American Girl, and Hong Kong’s Will Or of Drifting, along with Taiwanese singer and actress 9m88, and Tseng Jing-hua. Executive producers are Yeh Jufeng and Lee Lieh.

Chen is a veteran director known for Berlinale 2014 title Zone Pro Site: The Moveable Feast and 2020’s My Missing Valentine, winner of five Golden Horse Awards including best film and best director.

Closing film Dear Stranger revolves around a married couple living in New York whose peaceful life takes a U-turn after their son is kidnapped. The film deals with family shackles and racial isolation of an immigrant family in the cultural melting pot.

The film marks the first English-language live-action feature for Japan’s Toei Company. The Japan-Taiwan-US collaboration will receive its international premiere at Busan this month.

Director Mariko previously presented Destruction Babies, winner of Locarno’s best emerging director, and Miyamoto at TGHFF.

The festival will pay tribute to Japanese actor Nishijima through a Filmmaker-in-Focus section, which will screen License To Live, his early work with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa that earned him best actor at Japanese Professional Movie Awards; Cut by Iranian director Amir Naderi about an uncompromising young filmmaker who envisions his cinematic dream with boxing; and Oscar-winner Drive My Car by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, which won Nishijima best actor awards at the National Society of Film Critics’ Awards and Japan Academy Film Prize.

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