Theme

Portraits and Echoes of Taiwanese Women on Screen

This year’s Taiwan Film Festival Berlin invites you to trace the lives, labor, and emotional landscapes of women in Taiwanese cinema. From postwar migration to urban loneliness, from motherhood to queer kinship, these seven films span over three decades of storytelling, each carrying the strength and silence of women who stayed, endured, and transformed.

Program

26 September - Friday

Opening film
Focus Director: Tom Shu-Yu Lin
2024 Taiwan, 107 min. black and white, FSK 16, OmeU, Mandarin, Hakka
Family, Drama, Q&A with director Tom Shu-Yu Lin after the screening.

A mother-daughter fable of return, projection, and entangled fates.

After eight years away, Yen returns to her rural hometown hoping to rebuild what’s left between her and her mother. But when she meets Ai-Lee—a mysterious acting student who looks just like her—the lines between self and shadow begin to blur. A poetic tale of identity, inheritance, and the haunting question: what if you could live your life again?

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Director:
Tom Shu-Yu Lin 林書宇

Raised in Taiwan and the USA, Tom Shu-Yu Lin made his directorial debut with Winds of September (2008, TIFF). His works include Starry Starry Night, Zinnia Flower, and The Garden of Evening Mists (2019), which received nine Golden Horse nominations. Known for his sensitive portrayal of emotional landscapes, Lin continues to bridge Taiwanese narratives with global audiences through international co-productions.

Cast:
Kimi Hsia, Yang Kuei-mei, Sam Tseng, Ng Ki-pin, Hsieh I-le, Winnie Chang, Elsie Yeh, Chang Chieh
夏于喬、楊貴媚、曾國城、黃奇斌、謝以樂、張詩盈、葉全真、張捷

Prices:
2022 Golden Harvest Awards – Outstanding Screenplay Award (won);
2024 Busan IFF – Kim Jiseok Award (won);
2024 Golden Horse Awards – 8 nominations (Best Supporting Actress – Yang Kuei-mei won);
2024 Asian Film Awards – Best Supporting Actress (won);
2025 Santa Barbara IFF – Best International Feature (won);
2025 FCC Awards – Best Screenplay; Best Supporting Actress (won both)

27 September - Saturday

Tom Lin Shu-yu’s journey — from a passionate cinephile to an internationally celebrated director — has given us deeply moving works like Zinnia Flower and Yen and Ai-Lee. In this intimate session, he will share how his love for cinema has shaped his storytelling and career, offering invaluable insight for film lovers and aspiring filmmakers alike.

Event Details:
Date: September 27, 2025 (Saturday)
Time: 10:30-14:30
Venue: MIBAP (Torstraße 22, 10119 Berlin)
Language: English
Fee: €40 (includes lunch) / 10€ for Students

Director bio
Raised in Taiwan and the USA, Tom Shu-Yu Lin’s debut, "Winds of September," premiered at TIFF in 2008, followed by "Starry Starry Night" (2011, Busan IFF), the acclaimed "Zinnia Flower" (2015, Busan IFF), and "The Garden of Evening Mists" (2019), which earned 9 Taiwan Golden Horse nominations.

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Application deadline: September 22

Sponsored by EVA Air Cultural Ambassador Program

Q&A with Talents after the screening.
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By Heart - 暗記
2015 Taiwan, 12 min. Black & White and Color, OmeU, Mandarin, English
Director: Jeffrey Lo

Catherine, brought to Taiwan after her parents' separation, struggles to maintain her American identity while being forced to memorize the Di Zi Gui, a traditional Confucian text teaching obedience and cultural values. Through resisting this educational indoctrination, she fights to preserve her sense of self and cultural roots.

Wings Becoming
2022 USA, Phiippines, 7 min. color, Silent
Director: Enzo Camachio, Ami Lien

羽化 (literally: wings becoming) is a Chinese Taoist term with a double meaning: “to transform into a butterfly” and “to die.” In this short 16mm film, these ideas of transformation and death are connected to a narrative of urban development and displacement. Set in a guerrilla garden patch tended by Chinese immigrants abutting the FDR Highway in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the film tracks the appearance and disappearance of a set of handmade paper butterflies. The paper butterflies are ritually set on fire, allowing them to cross the threshold into another world.

Durian Trees - 榴槤芭
2023 Malaysia , 20 min. color, OmeU, Malay, Mandarin, Yue Chinese (Cantonese)
Director: Shi Chin Cheun

Step into the world of an aged farmer engaged in a relentless battle against the Malaysian government to protect his cherished durian orchard. This heartfelt tale explores the courage and resilience of a man determined to preserve what is rightfully his.

Intervention on Dining Table
2023 Germany, 30 min. color, OmeU, Mandarin
Director: Yuyen Lin-Woywood

A video art project exploring Taiwanese queer immigrants' experiences in Germany through three interconnected themes: identity, media, and food. Combining intimate interviews conducted over shared meals with personal narratives, the film captures how food becomes comfort and connection for those navigating cultural displacement and identity formation abroad.

No Island in the Sea - 原來海上沒有島
2024 Taiwan, 25 min. color, OmeU, Mandarin
Director: Zhi Xiang Wang

"Taiwan is just an island across the sea.” Grandma says.
Eleven-year-old Wei must stay in FuQing, China. and tries everything he can to stop his cousin from going to Taiwan.

Focus Director: Tom Shu-Yu Lin
2015 Taiwan, 96 min. color, FSK 12, OmeU, Mandarin, Japanese
Family, Drama, Q&A with director Tom Shu-Yu Lin after the movie

A hundred days, two strangers, one journey to healing.

After a multi-car crash, Shin Min and Yu Wei lose their partners on the same day. In their 100-day mourning ritual, one drowns grief in alcohol, the other in cooking memories. As sorrow and sunshine blend, their hearts draw closer. Amid pain, they learn to let go—and discover how to live again.

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Director:
Tom Shu-Yu Lin
林書宇

Cast:
Karena Lam, Stone, Ko Chia‑yen, Umin Boya, Bryan Chang Shu‑hao
林嘉欣、石頭、柯佳嬿、馬志翔、張書豪

Prices:
2015 52nd Golden Horse Awards – Best Leading Actress (Karena Lam won); Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Film Music nominations;
2016 10th Asian Film Awards – Best Actress nomination (Karena Lam);
2015 Taipei Film Festival – Closing Film selection;
2015 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival – Ecumenical Jury Special Mention;
2016 CinemAsia Film Festival – Tiger Beer Jury Award.

28 September - Sunday

Focus Director: Tom Shu-Yu Lin
Q&A with director Tom Shu-Yu Lin after the screening.

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The Olfactory System - 嗅覺
1991, 15 min. color, OmeU, Mandarin

An office worker is kidnapped on his way home. The kidnapper lectures him on the five senses, stressing the supremacy of smell.

Parachute Kids - 跳傘小孩
2002, 70 min. color, OmeU, Mandarin

Taiwanese student Jonathan joins a Chinese gang in L.A. and falls for an ABC girl, Lisa. In the five-hour window before Lisa’s flight to Taiwan, Jonathan races against time and conflicted loyalties to make a life-changing decision.

The Pain of Others - 海巡尖兵
2005, 30 min. color, OmeU, Mandarin

On the night of Taiwan’s 2000 presidential election, three coastguards patrol the Yilan shore. A rookie endures harsh hazing, and the senior soldiers find themselves repeating the cycle of abuse—forcing one to confront his own participation in this violent tradition.

Restored Classics
1985 Taiwan, 121 min. color, FSK 0, OmeU, Mandarin
Family, Drama

Kuei-Mei arrives in Taiwan from China, marrying into a family with three children. Through decades of labor, hardship, and unspoken sacrifice, she holds her family together across Japan and Taiwan. Chang Yi crafts a moving portrait of endurance and emotional solitude in this landmark Taiwanese feminist classic.

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Director:
Chang Yi 張毅
Chang Yi, born December 14, 1951 in Taipei, graduated from Shih Hsin University and emerged as a key figure in Taiwan’s New Cinema. His acclaimed 1985 feature Kuei‑Mei, a Woman earned him Golden Horse Awards for Best Director, Best Feature, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Leading Actress. He continued with works like Jade Love and later ventured into animation. His 2020 short A Dog’s Life was nominated for a Golden Horse Award. Chang passed away on November 1, 2020.

Cast:
Loretta Yang Hui‑shan, Li‑chun Lee, Ming Liu, Wen Ying
楊惠珊、李立群、劉明、文英

1985 22nd Golden Horse Awards – Best Feature Film; Best Director (Chang Yi); Best Leading Actress (Yang Hui-sang); Best Adapted Screenplay (Hsiao Sa & Chang Yi) (all won); nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design;
1985 Asia-Pacific Film Festival – Best Director (won);
1985 Locarno IFF – Special selection in non-competition;
1985 Locarno IFF – International Critics Award & Jury’s Blue Leopard selection.

29 September - Monday

Restored Classics
1995 Taiwan, 108 min. color, FSK 12, OmeU, Taiwanese, Mandarin
Comedy, Coming of Age

A Taipei junior high student is kidnapped and taken to a rural fish farm in Tainan. What begins as a disaster transforms into a surreal break from exam pressure. Through muddy fields, lost dreams, and absurd adults, Tropical Fish offers a vibrant, offbeat vision of youth adrift in ‘90s Taiwan.

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Director:
Chen Yu-hsun 陳玉勳
Chen Yu-hsun, born in Taipei in 1962, began his career as a screenwriter and commercial director. He debuted with the feature Tropical Fish (1994), a humorous yet poignant portrait of a Taiwanese teen’s coming-of-age, earning him the Golden Horse Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress, along with recognition from the Locarno and Montpellier film festivals. Over the years, his work in television, commercials, and film has defined his offbeat style. His 2020 film My Missing Valentine won sweeping honors across the Golden Horse, Taipei Film Awards, and Taiwan Film Critics Society—an unprecedented triple crown.

Cast:
Lin Chia-hung, Ching-Luen Shi, Wen Ying, Akio Chen, Lien Pi-tung
林嘉宏、施靜蓉、文英、陳亞佑、連碧通

1994 Locarno IFF – Blue Leopard Prize & International Critics Award (won);
1995 Montpellier FF – Golden Panda for Best Film (won);
1995 32nd Golden Horse Awards – Best Original Screenplay (won); Best Supporting Actress (Wen Ying, won); Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (nominated)

30 September - Tuesday

Contemporary Narratives
2024 Taiwan, 110 min. color, FSK 12, OmeU, Taiwanese, Mandarin
Drama, Romance

One uniform, and the seams of class, youth, and self begin to split

In 1997, a uniform doesn’t hide you—it brands you. Enrolled in the night school division of an elite high school, Ai shares the uniform but not the status. To impress her crush, she pretends to be a day student. But what starts as a small lie spirals into a crisis of identity, class, and belonging.

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Director:
Chuang Ching-Shen 莊景燊
Chuang Ching-Shen holds an MFA from Taipei National University of the Arts. His feature debut High Flash (2018) won multiple awards at the Golden Horse Project Promotion and closed the Taipei Film Festival. Known for his grounded storytelling and social themes, he has since created acclaimed series like The Summer Temple Fair and A Wonderful Journey, highlighting marginal youth and intergenerational tensions in Taiwan.

Cast:
Buffy Chen, Chloe Xiang, Yitai Chiu, Chi Chin
陳妍霏、項婕如、邱以太、季芹

2020 Golden Horse EX‑Screenplay Award (won);
2025 Chicago APFF – Audience Award; Shining Star Award (both won)

Restored Classics
1995 Taiwan, 108 min. color, FSK 12, OmeU, Taiwanese, Mandarin
Comedy, Coming of Age

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Contemporary Narratives
2024 Taiwan, 110 min. color, FSK 18, OmeU, Taiwanese, Mandarin
Supernatural, Comedy

In the afterlife’s talent show, relevance means scaring for your life

She died ordinary—but the afterlife offers one last shot at fame. In a ghostly talent agency, Newbie teams up with a washed-up diva and a useless demon to restage a legendary horror show. The twist? The audience is alive, and scaring them might be the only way to stay relevant in the underworld’s cutthroat spotlight.

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Director:
John Hsu
徐漢強
John Hsu graduated with an MFA from Shih Hsin University. He won Best Director at the Golden Bell Awards (2005) and received international recognition with his VR film Your Spiritual Temple Sucks, selected at Sundance and over 40 festivals. His debut feature Detention (2019) became Taiwan’s top-grossing film of the year and won five Golden Horse Awards. Dead Talents Society (2024) blends horror, absurdity, and industry satire, continuing his unique exploration of digital subcultures and genre fusion.

Cast:
Chen Bo-Lin, Sandrine Pinna, Gingle Wang, Eleven Yao, Bai Bai, Soso Tseng
陳柏霖、張榕容、王淨、姚以緹、白靜宜、曾威豪

2024 Golden Horse Awards – 11 nominations, 5 wins (Visual Effects, Art Direction, Makeup & Costume, Action Choreography, Original Film Song);
2024 TIFF Midnight Madness – People’s Choice Award (1st runner-up);
2024 Fantastic Fest – Audience Award; Best Horror Director (won);
2024 Sitges Fest – People’s Choice Award (won);
2024 Hawaii IFF – NETPAC Award (nominated);
2025 Asian Film Awards – Best Visual Effects (nominated);
2025 Hong Kong Film Awards – Best Asian Chinese Language Film (nominated)

01 October - Wednesday

Q&A with Talents after the screening.
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A Moonlit Night - 拾月人
2024 China, 19 min. color, OmeU, Mandarin
Director: Jing Wen

Ahman, a Buddhist laywoman in a serene temple, practices collecting moonlight for spiritual cultivation. After refusing to share her gift with a newcomer, she loses her powers. Only when she selflessly spreads moonlight over a river for others' joy do her abilities return, teaching her that sharing amplifies spiritual strength.

Happy Funeral
2015 Taiwan, 15 min. color, OmeU, Mandarin
Director: Yu Xiang Pemg

Zhang Jiacheng, a young funeral worker, witnesses family conflict over a deceased person's gender presentation. Meeting the vibrant grandfather Letian, who dreams of a rap-filled funeral, Jiacheng questions industry conventions. When Letian dies, Jiacheng honors his wish, creating a joyful ceremony that celebrates life and challenges traditional funeral practices.

Piglet Piglet - 美豬肉圓
2020 Taiwan, 15 min. color, OmeU, Mandarin
Director: Lin Tsung Yen

During Taiwan's 2020 presidential election, Yu-Ann discovers she's eight weeks pregnant but keeps it secret while her husband focuses on opening a Ba-Wan dumpling store. Before she can share the news, she suffers a miscarriage. Together, the couple confronts life's unpredictability amid their nation's democratic uncertainty.

My Name is... - 蘇芯語改名字
2023 Taiwan, 27 min. color, OmeU, Mandarin
Director: Tzu Han Chaing

Chen Si-yu, a junior high school girl, took her mother's surname after her parents divorced.But this completely unfamiliar name "Su Xin Yu" makes her uncomfortable and antipathy .The rapid changes in her family life have left her at a loss, and she has come to understand the complexities of the adult world, is only to discover that she is not looking for a superficial name, but a longing for a "perfect home."

The Black Dog - 黑犬
2024 Taiwan, 20 min. color, OmeU, Mandarin
Director: Ling Yang

A father on the verge of losing his wife is witnessed by his young daughter as he makes peculiar sounds during a nightmare. He suppresses his emotions, attempting to free himself from the grip of fear.

Closing Film
2024 Taiwan, 126 min. color, FSK 12, OmeU, Mandarin, English
Family, Drama

When motherhood refuses to forget, memory finds new ways to be born

When her daughter dies in an accident, Jin Aixia faces an impossible choice: what to do with the embryo left behind. As she travels to the U.S. to confront this lingering life, she’s unexpectedly reunited with her estranged first daughter. In this layered family story, grief, forgiveness, and motherhood intertwine across generations.

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Director:
Huang Xi 黃熙
A graduate of NYU Tisch and currently based in Taipei, HUANG Xi has worked closely with Hou Hsiao-Hsien since Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996). His directorial debut Missing Johnny (2017) was selected for Busan, Tokyo FILMeX and HK Asian FF, winning awards at both the Taipei and Golden Horse Awards. In 2022, he released Twisted Strings, an HBO miniseries starring Sylvia Chang, exploring death and desire with dark humor. His latest film Daughter’s Daughter (2024) received five nominations at the Golden Horse Awards, winning Best Original Screenplay.

Cast:
Sylvia Chang, Karena Lam, Eugenie Liu
張艾嘉、林嘉欣、劉奕兒

2023 Golden Harvest Excellent Screenplay Award (won);
2024 Golden Horse Awards – Best Original Screenplay (won); Best Actress (Sylvia Chang), Best Supporting Actress (Eugenie Liu) nominations;
2025 Asian Film Awards – Best Actress (Sylvia Chang) nomination

Tickets

Opening Film: Regular 15 € / Student 13 €
Other screenings: Regular 13 € / Student 11 €

Get your tickets now!
At the Colosseum Filmtheater ticket booth (Schönhauser Allee 123, 10437 Berlin)
Online through their official website here
Important note: When you visit the website, make sure to select the dates September 26 - October 1 first

All tickets are sold on a first-come-first-served basis. Tickets are the only proof of purchase for admittance to screenings and will not be reissued if lost or damaged. Accessible seats are limited. Please make reservations in advance. To ensure screening quality, latecomers will NOT be admitted to screenings 10 minutes after films begin, and tickets are NON-RE-FUNDABLE. Please obey rules for eating/drinking at the venue. All film rights belong to the copyright owners. Photography or video/audio recording during the screenings is strictly prohibited. The festival reserves the right to require deletion of illegal files. Film information listed in the program book is up-to-dateat the time of publication. Any further changes (running time/rating, etc.) will be announced on the festival‘s official website and at the venues. Running time does not include Q&A sessions before or after screenings. The festival reserves the right to change the program.

About

Curator Prologue

This autumn, we invite you to enter ten Taiwanese films and encounter „her“—women from different generations, under different social expectations, whose lives and emotions resonate powerfully on screen.

Taiwanese cinema has long been celebrated for its delicate portrayal of human relationships and emotional nuance. Within that tradition, female characters stand out as some of the most vivid and affecting. They are not merely mothers, daughters, or lovers—they are witnesses of their time, emotional anchors of families, and resilient beings who choose to remain, even in silence and struggle. The 2025 Taiwan Film Festival Berlin takes its theme Portraits and Echoes of Taiwanese Women on Screen as a lens through which we explore three temporal layers of womanhood: the past, the present, and the future.

We begin with Kuei-mei, a Woman and Tropical Fish, two restored classics that show us the archetypes of motherhood and working-class femininity in Taiwanese cinema. These are the women who were here—surviving war, migration, and the minutiae of everyday life, making their presence felt in subtle yet lasting ways. Next, we move into the world of Dead Talents Society and The Uniform, two contemporary works that portray the fluid identities, emotional contradictions, and pressures faced by women today. These are women in the now—standing at the crossroads of family and career, no longer waiting to be defined but actively claiming their own voices.

The short film section casts a glance toward the future. These emerging filmmakers may still be finding their path, but their voices are already loud and clear. Through their personal perspectives and heightened awareness of the present, they imagine new narratives and languages for women yet to come. The works of director Tom Lin Shu-Yu thread through the entire festival. Lin does not reduce women to symbols; instead, he approaches their inner lives with empathy and precision. From Zinnia Flower to Yen and Ai-Lee, and back to his early short films, his lens captures grief, care, and the unspoken tensions of generational love.

Even if you’re unfamiliar with Taiwanese cinema, we believe you will recognize in these women a familiar vulnerability, a shared strength. You might see yourself, or someone you love.
This is an invitation—not only to watch, but to feel, to remember, and to imagine.

Short Film introduction

The two screening showcases the diverse voices and profound insights of Taiwanese filmmakers through ten compelling short films. The first program explores diasporic experiences and questions of belonging, following stories that span from a Taiwanese American girl adapting to school life in Taiwan, to queer communities finding home in Germany, families divided by migration, and ongoing struggles for land rights and social justice. The second program delves into life's most intimate transformations and uncertainties, presenting moments of spiritual awakening, reflections on death with dignity, the pain of pregnancy loss amid political upheaval, a mother's search for her daughter's identity after divorce, and the quiet burden of anticipatory grief.

Together, these works create a nuanced tapestry of identity, memory, and home, inviting audiences into the fragile yet profound spaces where life's most personal passages are felt, endured, and ultimately transformed. Through deeply personal narratives, these films illuminate the complex negotiations between displacement and belonging, trauma and healing, loss and renewal that define the contemporary Taiwanese experience.