2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia reveals Short Film Competition Program, Screenwriters Intensive Projects, and Panel Events set for August 21-25
TICKETS ON SALE NOW: WWW.SUNDANCEFFASIA.COM
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, August 8, 2024 — With two weeks to go until Sundance Film Festival: Asia in Taipei, G2Go Entertainment and the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the Short Film Competition finalists, a Screenwriters Intensive for Taiwanese filmmakers, and panel events taking place surrounding SPOT-Huashan on August 21-25. Tickets for film screenings, short film programs, and panels are on sale now at www.SundanceFFAsia.com.
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia Short Film Competition spotlights new Taiwanese filmmaking talent with over 140 submissions received this year. Six finalists have been selected with the winner to be chosen by the jury members, including members of the Sundance Film Festival programming team and guest jurors Justine O. (Producer – 18×2 Beyond Youthful Days) and Taiwanese actress Ke-Xi Wu (Nina Wu, Black Tea). These six finalists make up the unique program for the Short Film Competition to be screened during the Festival, and where on Opening Night, one of these films will be awarded the Jury Prize for Best Short Film presented by Gold House, the leading Asian Pacific cultural organization based in the West. Last year’s best short film winner, The Stag, was showcased at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in Utah where it won the Short Film Jury Award for International Fiction.
The six works comprising this year’s Short Film Competition finalists include: Addiction directed by Tzu-Hsuan Peng; Century Egg directed by Charles Barratt; Darling This Was Hard directed by Min-Chun Hou; MAMU directed by Aephie Chen (also shown in the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: London program); Side By Side directed by Ching Wen; and Suo Jiang directed by Chien-Yu Lin.
Another wonderful addition to the Festival this year is the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia Screenwriters Intensive: Taiwan, aimed at nurturing the vibrant filmmaking community in Taiwan with world-class Sundance Institute mentorship. Led by the Institute’s Feature Film Program, the Intensive is based on the renowned and foundational Screenwriters Lab where emerging writers hone their craft as part of an in-depth creative process while fostering a community. The Screenwriters Intensive: Taiwan is designed to be a showcase and accelerator for upcoming Taiwanese talent by providing creative guidance for emerging filmmakers working on a first or second feature film. A mixture of veteran screenwriters have been invited to advise and guide this immersive program, they are Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Doug Wright (Quills, I Am My Own Wife), Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel), and Taiwanese screenwriter-director plus Golden Horse Award winner Tom Shu-yu Lin (Winds of September, Zinnia Flower).
The projects and artists selected for the Screenwriters Intensive: Taiwan are:
Peter Ho (Director) and Leong Siew Hong (Writer) with Appetite For Desire: Two close friends become addicted to the mysterious kappa meat, enthralled by its effects and the way it transforms their lives. However, when their addiction and greed backfire, they find themselves on vastly different paths.
Peter Ho is an actor, producer, and screenwriter. As a director, he aims to draw out the actors’ best performances and nurture newcomers. For his 2018 television series Age of Rebellion, three newcomers and two actors received nominations at the Golden Bell Awards.
Leong Siew Hong is a Malaysian filmmaker based in Taipei. She wrote and directed the short film Blind Mouth (Bisu), which was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the Taipei Golden Horse Awards and selected by the Tampere Film Festival. She co-wrote the feature films Shutter Life, Hello! Tapir, and The Paradise, which earned a Best Newcomer Screenplay nomination at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
Joseph Chen-Chieh Hsu (Co-Writer-Director) and Pei-Ju Hsieh (Co-Writer) with Double Happiness: Stan Kao must simultaneously hold two perfect weddings at the same traditional five-star hotel for his warring divorced parents without being discovered.
Joseph Chen-Chieh Hsu was born and raised in Taiwan and earned an MFA in Film Production from New York University’s Tisch Asia. He achieved mainstream success with the Hong Kong Film Festival opener Little Big Women, which also screened at the Busan International Film Festival. To date, it is one of the highest-grossing films at the Taiwanese box office.
Pei-Ju Hsieh honed her craft at Taiwan University of the Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Film Production and furthered her education at Columbia University, earning a Master’s degree in the same field. An alumna of Berlinale Script Station, her career took flight in 2019 with the critically acclaimed debut feature Heavy Craving garnering awards at the Golden Horse Awards and Taipei Film Festival.
Jae Yang (Writer-Director) with I Won’t Be Here When You Come Back: Amidst family and financial troubles, a forgotten former child star seeking her true identity is persuaded to reboot her old TV show, but this time as an adult film.
Jae Yang holds an MFA in Film Screenwriting and Directing from Columbia University. Her feature project Lives of Crime was selected for Golden Horse FPP and Busan International Film Festival, while Judoka and Cry Me Through Hell were officially selected in Series Mania.
An Chu (Co-Writer-Director) and Jeff Chi-Yang Chang (Co-Writer) with Paper Houses Made of Fire and Rain: The employees at a Paper Art shop relive their memories and dreams within the paper models they create for offerings. As paper houses burn and the actors step into real life, reality gradually blurs with the world of paper…
An Chu is a graduate of the Film MFA Directing program at Columbia University. He’s an alumnus of the Locarno Filmmakers Academy and Golden Horse Film Academy. His short film, The Stag won the International Fiction Jury Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
Jeff Chi-Yang Chang is a writer and filmmaker based in New York. He is originally from Taipei, Taiwan. He earned his BA in Design from Ravensbourne University, London, and an MFA in Directing and screenwriting from Columbia University School of the Arts.
Festival-goers can attend the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia Panels featuring conversations with artists and industry speakers being held throughout the Festival. Panels taking place include speakers from across the globe, sharing their insights into all forms of craft. From anime legend Macoto Tezka (Director of Tezuka Productions, Black Jack series), and Academy Award-winning sound designer Skip Lievsay (Gravity, Roma) to cinematographer Lawrence Sher (Joker, The Hangover). These talks make up an exciting lineup for audiences to engage with creators and spark further dialogue with each other. The list of panels with times and locations are:
Bringing True Stories to the Screen
Thursday, August 22, 13:00-14:00
Festival Hub: M4A Red Wine Factory at Huashan1914 – Creative Park
Sundance alumni Brendan Bellomo (Porcelain War) and Mari Bakke Riise (A New Kind of Wilderness) gather to talk about the art of translating true stories to the screen, balancing sensitivity to subjects and the need to shape real life into cinema.
Sundance Institute Artist Programs and Sundance Film Festival – All You Need to Know
Friday, August 23, 14:00-15:00
Festival Hub: M4A Red Wine Factory at Huashan1914 – Creative Park
Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming Kim Yutani, Senior Programmer Heidi Zwicker, and Assistant Director of the Feature Film Program, International, Matthew Takata gather to answer the most asked questions about the work they do, and how filmmakers can best prepare themselves to submit to Sundance programs.
Moderated by: Mary Sadeghy, Sundance Institute Head of Partnerships and Events.
The Secret of Creation: Macoto Tezka’s Films
Friday, August 23, 14:00-15:30
Syntrend: Syntrend Creative Park, 12F Syntrend Show
Macoto Tezka is the son of Osamu Tezuka, the world-famous Manga and Anime artist in Japan. As an independent filmmaker, Macoto’s style of creations includes The Legend of the Stardust Brothers and Hakuchi: The Innocent. He also adapted his father’s manga Black Jack to anime and Barbara to the live-action feature film with Christopher Doyle. He shares with the audience the secrets of his special works.
Knock, Knock, Knocking on Hollywood’s Door
Friday, August 23, 16:00-18:00
Syntrend: Syntrend Creative Park, 12F Syntrend Show
How talent and the casting process play significant roles in achieving the greenlight on a production. For those who want to learn more about producer/talent relationships and how they pertain to film financing, this panel covers the angle of how actors collaborate with filmmakers. Industry heavyweights Max Michael (Head of Asian BD at UTA) and Claudia Lyon (EVP, Talent and Casting, CBS Entertainment) share their experiences with producer Alan Pao (Jamojaya, It Follows).
Moderated by Patrick Lee (Founding CEO, Rotten Tomatoes), whose company is one of the most successful review-aggregation platforms.
The Paradox of Directing: Realizing a Singular Vision Through Diverse Collaboration
Saturday, August 24, 10:00-12:00
Syntrend: Syntrend Creative Park, 12F Syntrend Show
Exploring the various ways directors collaborate with multiple departments in shaping and fulfilling their vision for a project. Director Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones, Thor: The Dark World) and Jane Wu (Blue Eye Samurai) use their examples of film and TV series creations to share their pipeline of how they ensure their visions are realized.
Moderated by producer/director Alan Tuan.
Working with Actors
Saturday, August 24, 12:30-13:30
Festival Hub: M4A Red Wine Factory at
Huashan1914 – Creative Park
Directors Sean Wang (Dìdi (弟弟)), Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero (Sujo), Jack Begert (Little Death), and Caroline Lindy (Your Monster) speak about their experiences casting and working with performers, from Joan Chen and David Schwimmer to talented newcomers, that gave such memorable and moving performances in their films.
Future of Storytelling – It’s Getting Personal…and Interactive
Saturday, August 24, 14:00-16:00
Syntrend: Syntrend Creative Park, 12F Syntrend Show
Dissecting the future of storytelling, this panel explores the evolution of the ever-changing landscape in ways people consume content enabled by technology. Jon Snoddy (CEO at Operative Games, Former SVP Research & Development at Disney) and Emmy awards winner Maureen Fan (CEO at Baobab Studios) use examples of their works to discuss the merging of interactive and narrative storytelling, sharing their thoughts about the impact of AI and social media as well as transmedia IP adoption.
Moderated by Kun Gao, the Co-Founder of the Crunchyroll which is owned by Sony Pictures and focuses on anime and manga distribution.
Turning Your Creativity Up to 11 – Storytelling In Sound
Saturday, August 24, 16:30-18:30
Syntrend: Syntrend Creative Park, 12F Syntrend Show
Academy-award-winning re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay, CAS (Gravity, No Country For Old Man) discusses with composer Lim Giong (The Assassin, Still Life) how to maximize your storytelling with the intricacies of sound and different ways of expression. Other than in the narrative form, the discussion opens up to how sound affects experimental and documentary filmmaking.
Moderated by Sundance Film Festival alumni filmmaker John Hsu (Your Spiritual Temple Sucks, Detention).
Minds Behind the Magic – A Producers’ Roundtable
Sunday, August 25, 10:00-12:00
Syntrend: Syntrend Creative Park, 12F Syntrend Show
This all-female powerhouse roundtable examines and breaks down the process of believing in a captivating project. Showrunner Lisa Joy (Westworld, Fallout) shares how that transpires in the long run, along with producers Nina Yang Bongiovi (Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Sorry to Bother You) and Christina Oh (Minari, Okja) whose films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to find further success. Although their producing credits are different, this roundtable shares their experiences in tackling industry challenges and how their mindsets and solutions are similar across the board.
Moderated by Amy Ma (Production Management Manager at Netflix) who has extensive experience in co-productions. She produced American Girl which won five Golden Horse Awards.
From Idea to Reality – Brainstorming IP Characters
Sunday, August 25, 14:00-16:00
Syntrend: Syntrend Creative Park, 12F Syntrend Show
How important is an IP character? Likely the most valuable thing there is when it comes to the business of film and television franchising. Creative director Anthony Francisco (Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther) shares his designs of some of his most talked-about characters. Demonstrating with director Shih Ting Hung (Viola: The Traveling Rooms of a Little Giant), the audience will witness the creation of a character’s image based on a live script and feedback. Expect ideas to bounce back and forth like you’ve never seen before.
Challenges and Solutions, Lessons Learned On Set
Sunday, August 25, 16:30-18:30
Syntrend: Syntrend Creative Park, 12F Syntrend Show
Renowned cinematographer and Oscar-nominated Lawrence Sher, ASC (Joker, The Hangover) shares his trials and tribulations, how often at times you are challenged on set, adapt to the environment needed to make things work, and enjoy the process while doing so! Diving into his most iconic shots by sharing behind-the-scenes secrets from his blockbuster movies.
Tickets are on sale now at: www.SundanceFFAsia.com
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The 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia is held in partnership with Taipei City and TAICCA, with event partners Cathay Financial Holdings, Gold House, and The State of Utah; The master panels are supported by NMEA and Taipei Film Commission; Venue partners are SPOT-Huashan, Ambassador Taipei, Taiwan Film & Audiovisual Institute, Regent Taipei, Legacy Taipei and King Car Cultural & Art Center; Program support by Full Shine; Sound Design Workshop supported by Dolby Institute; Media partners are Taiwan Plus, Agent Movie and Line Today; with In-kind sponsorships from Blizzard Entertainment, Kavalan, Taihu, Good Cho’s, Kuma Gin, Le Food Co., Normal Taipei, All Day Roasting Company, All Good Gene’s Kombucha, Metatheory, FutureWard, Across Films and Moon Heart Films; The support of these organizations helps offset the festival’s costs, please visit SundanceFFAsia.com for more.
