Taiwanese films Be With Me (車頂上的玄天上帝) and A Girl Out of the Country (鳳姐) have been short-listed for awards at the 43rd Hawaii International Film Festival.
Be With Me has been nominated for the Kau Ka Hoku (Shooting Star) Award, which is presented to the best emerging filmmaker — for their first or second feature film — while A Girl Out of the Country has been nominated for the Network for the Promotion of Asian-Pacific Cinema (NETPAC) Award, the festival’s Web site showed.
The NETPAC Award is given out at multiple international film festivals to promote Asia-Pacific cinema, with the Hawaii festival being the only US film festival that presents the award, the Web site says.
Be With Me, which features actress Ariel Lin (林依晨), is the debut feature film of director Hwarng Wern-ying (黃文英). It tells the story of a woman at a crossroads in her life who returns to Chiayi County to care for her ailing father under the guidance of a Taoist deity.
Director Chiu Hsin-ta’s (邱新達) A Girl Out of the Country tells the story of a woman who dreams of becoming a star, but ends up being trafficked and forced to work as a prostitute.
The festival began on Wednesday and runs until Nov. 5 across Hawaii. The award ceremony is to be held on Oct. 22.
Taiwanese movies, including Day Off (本日公休) and My Heavenly City (我的天堂城市), are also to be screened at the festival as part of its “Spotlight on Taiwan” category, organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles.
Source: Taipei Times
