29th ifva Awards
Asian New Force Category Jury Meeting
Jury Members: Timmy Chih-Ting Chen (Chen), Chong Keat-Aun (Chong), Li Ya-mei (Li),
Adam Wong (Wong), Didi Wu (Wu)
Organiser representative: Roxane Tsui (Tsui)

Tsui: Today, we are going to select the Gold, Silver and Special Mention awards from the ten
finalists. We can discuss each work first before moving on to nominating awards. Let’s start
our sharing with Hearing from the Dolphin.
Wu: Let me go first, I’m relatively new. I feel that this film is a bit lacking in power, but I feel thatit does not have enough resources and so we cannot ask for too much. I think the two finalist
documentaries both have this problem, that is, they start from the general situation and thengo on to the characters. I think it would be better to start from the characters and then expand
to the general situation. When I first saw this work, I did not immediately get into the character,his ideas and background. When watching it, I often wondered where the dolphins come from.
Only later did I really understand that they are stranded. I felt that I was given a very mistaken
impression at first because I imagined that human beings are too self-righteous, which is notwhat the documentary wants to say. I got the opposite feeling from the film’s intended
purpose. I think it was a matter of resources. The director should have shot more underwater
scenes, I think there are a lot of things that he didn't capture, and you would feel that healready put in what he did have. I feel that way, which is not to say that the film is bad, but it
is just my opinion.
Wong: I think his good points are obvious. The subject itself is interesting, and it is also something
we do not know about, which is the impact of wind power on dolphins. But I think thischaracter and the issue are a bit unbalanced. When I watch this person, I feel a little
uncomfortable, because he is very helpless and selfish. This is the kind of story that anyone
who does this kind of work will have, but the director only points out very superficial things. I
feel that as a short film, it does not have much time. There is a bit of an imbalance between
the character and the issues. I want to see more issues. What I like the most is the way the
director filmed dolphins. I have never seen a dolphin. Personally, I think it is too sparse, thepoint of view is only from one person. I'd like to hear more about what other volunteers think.
Chen: Let me say a few words in favor of this work. This film is among my top three. I did not havethis feeling when watching it in the first round, but when I watched it on the big screen, I
thought it was wonderfully done. In fact, the execution of this film is much more difficult than1

we imagined, because there are many things in it that cannot be seen or heard, so when
watching it, what I was thinking was very different from Didi (Wu). The structure of this film iswell done. The sound of offshore generators is used at the beginning and again at the end to
let the audience enter the auditory world of dolphins. It made us feel very uncomfortable atthe beginning. And then the main character is introduced. He tells us that this is the mental
stress that dolphins feel. There are many conservation documentaries, but I think this one
breaks new grounds. It tells us many things we do not know about dolphins. The filmmakerattempts to let viewers enter the sensory world of dolphins. On the other hand, this is not an
isolated issue. When it comes to the conflict between development and environmental
protection, it turns out that environmental protection can also harm the ecology of the ocean.
So in in the end, the film presents us with a character and issues, including marine conservation.
With a very short duration, this is quite a powerful work.
Chong: As far as the topic itself is concerned, it is very difficult to tackle this very special dolphin
rescue issue within half an hour. You just mentioned the doctor's words. This kind of complaintis quite common. He said that the work is very hard, but I think this is his personal feeling. As
far as the topic is concerned, in just thirty minutes, I learned about rescuing dolphins. It turns
out that they are discriminated against because they are a minority, with only fifty to sixty
white dolphins in existence. They are sensitive to noises. In thirty minutes, I learned about anissue, which can become the subject of a long documentary in the future. It is a very goodwork and it is very powerful. It aroused the audience's interest within thirty minutes. I was notinterested in this topic initially, as I watching it, I became interested in rescuing dolphins. The
film started well with the piling sound, which makes us realize there is always such sounds inlife. But if the sound stops for ten seconds, it feels nice and quiet. The depiction of dolphin
rescue has successfully attracted my attention, and I am someone who had no knowledge ofdolphins, and it touched me at a certain level. So, I think this short film is successful. The
shortcomings are that the length is too short, and also the doctor’s complaints. Of course, it ishuman nature to complain. After all, he is doing this alone, but he is a bit conceited. What I
find valuable about him is when he said that human beings often get admitted to the hospital
lying down, but if dolphins go into the hospital lying down, they cannot be saved. I think thismetaphor is quite interesting. It turns out they have people taking turns being in the water tohold the dolphin 24 hours a day to prevent it from falling asleep or sinking. I can imagine thatsuch a rescue would be quite moving.
Li: Documentaries from Taiwan are very good, especially at the Taipei Film Festival, which awards
the million-dollar first prize to documentaries almost every year. In fact, short documentaries
can never be compared to feature films, because documentaries really require a longer periodof time to get their message across and to explore the subject matter through their characters,so I think it is not easy for this director to capture what he had in such a short space of time. If
given more time, he should be able to do more exciting things, but it is quite difficult within
30 minutes. I think he made a wrong choice. Within a thirty-minute film, do you focus on acharacter or a topic? I think he should have chosen an issue, because you cannot actually2

explore a character in this time. You see him talking to himself and saying things like him
sacrificing his family and his future. These things are not related to this issue. The director
should have left out the character and focused on the issue. Even as a Taiwanese, I did notknow that Taiwan's wind power generation harms whales and dolphins, so I felt I gained a lot
from watching it, but the director did not explore further. In Taiwan, if you want to develop
wind farms, the project has to be approved by the Environmental Assessment Committee,
which will help ensure that the project does not damage the environment, but these projects
all passed assessment. Why did they pass? I'm very curious, so if the director focused on theseissues instead of that character, it would be a very exciting and powerful short documentary.
Chong: I even think that the director should remove that character and give more time to dolphins,even just filming them quietly swimming, I think the audience would get more from the work.
Of course, the director made this choice instead.
Li: There are two documentary shorts among the finalists. One is Iran's Can I Hug You?. I reallywant to watch independent documentary shorts, they are difficult to make. If we comparedthese two documentary shorts, I think the Iranian film is better. Can I Hug You? subverts manyof my expectations and is very brave, but I think if I were to choose one of the two
documentaries, I would give an award to the Iranian film.
Chen: During the first round, I really liked Can I Hug You? When I saw it in the theater, I felt that
Hearing from the Dolphin had risen in the rankings.
Li: The sound is done well, they hired a very professional Taiwanese sound team to do it.
Tsui: The next one is Destruction.
Li: It is a science fiction film, but I did not quite understand it. I could not understand it even after
watching it 3 or 4 times. I read the synopsis when I got home yesterday, and found out what
the story is about.
Wu: I think the scenes and angles are pretty good. I think it was shot with an iPhone, I have noidea how much it costs or the scale of the production. If it had very limited resources, it is wellmade. It also takes advantage of the short film format to tell a story that does not need to be
explained clearly, and the idea is very good.
Chong: This work started well. The cat’s perspective was OK. I thought it was a mouse at first.
When the young man is lying there and then the police come, I felt that the section about thepolice officer is too long and keeps going around in circles. He suspects that the girl is themurderer. I felt that too much time was spent on this. The suspense and cat's perspective are
not carried over to the middle part, and it is a pity to only bring it back at the end. I felt thatthe beginning part of this short film started off very well, but then dragged on in the middle,
3and after that, I was no longer interested in seeing what went on. The whole film plays withdifferent perspectives.
Wong: I read the Artist Statement. She said she didn't want to tell a clear story. Frankly speaking,I could not understand the story the first time around. It felt a bit too pretentious. I think there
are some social issues involved, which she could not talk about directly. Hong Kong people areusing this kind of methods to film such topics now. When I thought of this and watched thefilm again, it turned out to be very scary. That child was probably killed by the police. Perhaps
issues such as child labour, illegal immigrant children and refugees are prevalent in Azerbaijani
society. The woman saw the kid on that day and did not help him. She left and then he waskilled. I agree that the film tries too many tricks. The cat's POV is very interesting, and it is very
interesting on its own, but the film does not really work as a whole.
Chong: It seems that it was shot in parts, and there is a slight mismatch between the former andlatter parts. What you said is also possible, but this interpretation is also a bit of a stretch. If I
had to choose among the ten works, I might have to give this one up.
Wu: I think it does have its strengths. The visuals in this film are well shot. I think the sound at the
beginning and the scene of him lying on the ground are very beautiful. Then when the police
followed her, a scene that is in the middle of the short, is very good of making full use of thespace and format to present the shot.
Tsui: The next one is Mirage, which is an Indian film.
Wu: I like it very much. The director thinks of his hometown, dreams and the past, which is very
interesting and poetic. In the end credits, it shows that the director is also the cinematographer,so the film must have been shot with limited resources. It is enjoyable.
Chen: This one is also among my top three. In terms of structure, it begins and ends with a train
journey. Combining travel and dreams, this film is about the journey, about the director’s
inability to find a sense of belonging, and it also combines a lot of his memories to explore
space. This work is also quite in line with the independent spirit of ifva, and is indeed a very
independent work.
Wong: It is very simple and beautiful. What do you think of the long shot that begins with thechild that appears in the middle?
Wu: The director makes good use of space. To me, it is about his dreams and past memories, andfeelings about this place. He is not telling a story, it is all about an atmosphere and feeling. He
also did a good job with mise-en-scène and the whole film is smooth.
Li: I think documentaries should be compared with documentaries, dramas with dramas, issue4

films with issue films. I would compare this with the style of Where Do Ants Sleep at Night. For
the Where Do Ants Sleep at Night, the dance moves are creative, but it is too long, I driftedout halfway through the film. I liked this Indian film very much during the first round because
it is not easy to find these kind of films, especially in Taiwan, where people are discouraged
from making films like this. When I watched it on a big screen, I thought it was a little too
simple, and the subject matter is too slight.
Chong: I liked it very much when watching it on the small screen. But on the big screen, his skills
seem be inferior. On the other hand, when I watched Where Do Ants Sleep at Night on thesmall screen, it was fine. Of course, it was a bit long when seen on the big screen, but I really
liked that pigeons. I saw the light and shadow that he designed, the black and white light, theshadow, the music and the sound matched. Among these ten films, the sound of Where Do
Ants Sleep at Night is the best.
Chen: Let me respond. Where Do Ants Sleep at Night is different from Mirage, as the Where Do
Ants Sleep at Night is a dance film.
Chong: It is actually action theater.
Chen: It involved a lot of people, the scale of the two productions is different. If you look at itfrom the perspective of a dance film, it is very amazing at the beginning, but the rhythm iscompletely wrong, and it could not hold up till the end.
Chong: The last section, with the two dances, is too long and are not very good. Mirage is at a bitof a disadvantage when viewed on the big screen; it is not as poetic as when watching on asmall screen. Because the director did everything himself, the images suffered. Between these
two films, I like both works.
Chen: It is hard to compare. There are many people behind this dance film. You can find many
names of the crew members at the end credits.
Li: I am talking about the style, they both use images to tell stories. The end credits of the Beijing
film Rest in Peace and the Taiwanese short film are much longer than the Iranian one. It has to
do with the different film policies of these countries. We can't take these things into
consideration. We are a competition and we have to look at the finished product. It is a bit
difficult to choose between these two.
Chong: I like both works in two difference ways.
Chen: This film is actually only a bit more than ten minutes long, but it manages to create a senseof poetry. The bad thing about Where Do Ants Sleep at Night is that it is too long. It would bemuch better if it was more concise.
5

Wong: We have finished talking about Mirage. I simply love it. I think the long shot in the middle
is a little bit too long, because it starts with shots of the child, but those shots do not have any
special meaning.
Li: It just seems the director wants to do a long shot.
Wong: agreed. There is a shot of a child holding a ball. It seems interesting, but in fact it has no
meaning. This child’s acting is very natural in earlier scenes, but it is cleared that his action
here is instructed by director. I deducted some marks for this.
Chong: As soon as you saw him moving, the other person came out. It was precisely calculated,
and it is successful.
Wong: Actually, I do not like Where Do Ants Sleep at Night very much. It is too familiar and cliched
to me. I have seen many works that uses dance to depict the alienation of urbanites too manytimes, and the use of pigeons to talk about freedom is too much. I think this is a very formulaic
homework, and as such, it should get an A, because everything is very sophisticated.
Chong: Its technical aspects are well done. I also participate in theater. From a theater perspective,
its merits are rhythm and music. Of course, there are some familiar elements as you mentioned,
but it also has many strengths, despite the pigeons.
Wong: I really do not like it. It is a matter of taste.
Chong: I understand what you mean, but at least it has lyrics and dance movements. For example,
some movements that imitate the softness of the wings of a pigeon is done well.
Wong: Yes, I agree.
Chong: The whole things is too experimental theater. Of these two films, one is a long prose andthe other is a poem. It just depends on whether you want poetry or prose.
Li: The next one is When the Wind Rises from Taiwan.
Chen: I do not like When the Wind Rises much. In fact, I liked it during pre-selection, but latereliminated it. Because I think this film is a fictitious protest film. You can tell they do things on
instruction of by the director. There were scenes of old people protesting, then guards cameout, followed by reporters. Everything is so deliberate, and the overall feeling is a little bit fake.
Chong: When watching it the first time, I imagined viewing it on the big screen. I agree with theperformance issues you mentioned just now, but this work was designed to be seen on a big
6

screen, many things are surprising when seen on a big screen. Of course, you mentioned thatthe worst part are the actors. The old man is obviously acting. But I do like the design. Everyframe and every point is well-captured by the camera. For example, one shot has a windmillon the side, so you feel that the shot composition is good, the director knows where to position
the camera just right. No matter what, I still think his cinematography and the composition are
the most decent among the finalists, even though I do not really like the performances andactors, they overact. I watched this work twice already. The first time was during a short film
competition in Taiwan. We discussed this work and it did not get any awards.
Wu: Let me talk about it. I think the mise-en-scène you just mentioned is obviously non-natural.
I regard it as a formal expression. If it is done well, the whole format could be fine, but I think
the director did not push the film to the extreme. He uses four shots, and each long shot is thesame, and shoot it three times. I think in terms of form, if he can control every grid, the script
can look like ABCDABCD, which will make it more interesting as the film progresses, and his
mise-en-scène will not be strange. The amateurish acting will look more interesting with sucha presentation. I think his images are very clever, but I do not quite understand the issue andstory.
Chen: I have seen too many Taiwanese films on this kind of issue, among which documentaries
are the most common.
Chong: I want to know whether the collusion really exists.
Li: In fact, he did not dare to show it, and because this is not a documentary but a narrative film,
he uses a fake name.
Wu: So, they bribe people.
Chong: I have a question. Is this the first time that this topic has been presented in this way, withthis kind of format?
Li: I think the reason why he raised this issue is because building a petrochemical raw material
factory like that in Taiwan can bring huge economic benefits and put many people to work.
However, the air pollution is very serious. Many documentaries have talked about this issue,
but it is the first time I have seen it presented this way. I paid special attention to his Artistic
Statement, and noticed that he likes long shots because it presents different perspectives.
What is interesting is that his shots are not so conventional because he focuses on thosepeople. I find it is interesting because these people want money, but they also know they have
health problems. The film has this ambiguous attitude, which I think is pretty good. The whole
mise-en-scène impressed me. But with the actors’ performance, I think actors are just tools
for the director, he does not actually care about the people.

7

Chong: The work looks beautiful on the small screen, but on the big screen, you can see the actors’
flaws. His composition is beautiful and special. But I canoot ignore the actors just because of
the composition. You can see it clearly on the big screen.
Chen: Is it unsuitable to use fictional methods for documentaries?
Li: This issue is very complex, and the director seems to take it too lightly.
Chen: It is a bit simplified.
Li: I think the work is only looking at the superficial appearance.
Chen: What I do not like very much is that the old man protests alone at the beginning, but whenother villagers see that he can get compensation, they also join in the protest. The director’sview on this is too simple and does not reveal the complexity of the issues.
Chong: I think it turns a bit cartoonish and funny.
Li: The director just wants to make an absurd comedy, a kind of black comedy.
Chong: I noticed a lot of flaws on the big screen. It is not suitable for watching on the big screen
because the actors are so fake.
Li: This director cares more about the concepts than people.
Wong: The biggest problem is the form, which is a theatrical form with some humour, has no
relevance to this issue, so it is not very organic.
Li: The next film is Rest in Peace. At first, I thought it was a Taiwanese film because they all speak
Taiwanese. The customs are the same.
Chong: It is very Taiwanese.
Chen: It is Zhangzhou in Fujian. In fact, this work is distinctive, but there are too many traces ofimitation in it.
Chong: This is by is a director from Beijing, and he injected something personal in it. If given the
chance, I would ask the director if it was deliberate, or did he want to imitate Taiwan? In one
scene, Chen Da’s Hengchun ballad plays on the TV. We know that Chen Da is a well-known
Yueqin player and singer from China who came to Taiwan. I want to know whether he used
this kind of song to compare both sides of the Taiwan Strait?

8

Li: Is it to avoid the censors or something like that?
Chong: This so-called Hengchun ballad was written by Chen Da to represent the nostalgia for
China after moving to Taiwan. It is a ballad from the other side of the Taiwan Strait.
Wong: The director tried many things, but I think he was not very successful overall, because it isactually a narrative film with character-driven writing. It is difficult for me to get inside thischaracter and his story. It took me a long time recognising his face too.
Wu: The directing skills are very good. The director has potential and should make feature films
in the future.
Li: He should make a feature film to show his talents.
Chong: The issue that land cannot be buried is expressed in a very relaxed way, is it a sensitive
topic in China?
Chen: It depends on how you express it, because the land issue is a sensitive issue.
Chong: The director used a relaxed way to say that everyone can be buried in peace. This topic isquite interesting.
Chen: But the latter part veered from this issue.
Li: The director tried to do too many things.
Chen: This topic is actually not suitable for short films.
Li: I think it should be a feature film. The corpse part alone could be developed much further.
Short films should have its own storytelling methods.
Chen: In the end, the topic does not get sufficient development.
Li: And I think the director tried to do too many things. The last shot could be omitted because
the sound of those broadcasts is really too much. The next work is Can I Hug You?, I like it.
Wong: I like it very much.
Chen: I also like this film, but I think it uses too much music.
Wu: I do not think they did a very good job. The director found a very powerful topic. He is the
producer while his wife is the director. I feel a little uncomfortable with the ethics. The setting
9could be better. I think the animation is not well integrated with the whole film. I have watcheda lot of documentaries. The director got a good topic, but did not capture the emotion in the
middle. I did not like the narration very much. It is my personal feeling and I could not think of
how to improve it. The dialogue should be more powerful because he is the victim (directly
confronting his parents). When I watched it, my feeling was not as strong as you said. In
summary (my opinion), it's a bit of a waste of the theme.
Chong: I come from a Muslim country, so I can understand him. Iran is a country that is very boundby religion. The religion has become somewhat of an issue, and I think an issue film issuccessful when you fall in love with the subject at the end, and I become sympathetic to
Hossein, which I think is good enough for me. When he was at the family gathering wanted tocry but just cannot, I was touched by that.
Chen: In recent years, I have seen many Iranian works about women. This film depicts a man andis about masculinity, which is relatively rare. For man, this trauma is difficult to talk about.
Chong: Very few works talk about male sexual assault, and it is a childhood trauma. Men are often
sexually assaulted in Muslim countries. For example, pedophilia is common in Malaysia, but
this kind of thing is rarely mentioned. In Islamic countries, no one dares to speak out about
sexual assault and rape. When I saw the film on the big screen today, I felt that this issue isvery important, and if it won an award, it would raise the profile of this issue. For Iran, it would
be a good starting point.
Li: This film is my first choice. First of all, short film documentaries are really difficult to make, andwithin such a short duration, the film deeply moved everyone. It left a lasting impression onus, which is very hard to do. Secondly, this film is about several issues. One is about male sexualassault, which is not often discussed. The second point is that in today's society, men are
required to be strong. This film subverts this norm. I think it is very powerful. Thirdly, myfavourite scene is when his parents are sitting there and he tells his parents about the assault
but they avoid the issue. I think this reveals the situation of a country like Iran. The film isamazing. Within a short duration, I just went “wow” after watching it. If I were to make thisfilm again today, I would not know how to tell this story. This is his own story, so it is easy to
become accusatory, but he is not. Rather, he is very restrained. I like this film very much.
Chong: He treads very lightly.
Li: He is looking back on the past after many years and examining the incident, and the idea is
executed well.
Chen: From what his parents say, they care about him. They avoid confrontations, otherwise
people will find him annoying.

10Li: I think the avoidance is the most horrifying aspect of this film. They do not avoid things
deliberately, but just naturally steer away from this horrifying issue.
Wong: There is also the issue of the wife filming her husband, which I think is very rare. The film
is a documentary, but it is more layered than many carefully planned narrative films. There aresome subtexts that can be felt. For example, in the last scene of them swimming, it shows thisman has escaped from the past. These images are all natural, and nothing much needs to besaid for you to feel that the protagonist has emerged from the shadows. I like the children verymuch. When a child appears, there is always a sense of hope.
Chen: His wife said she was worried because he did not want to have children. Also, he isconcerned that his younger brother often hangs out with older people, so he is actually using
his own personal story to bring out the problems between their family and his society.
Tsui: The next one is the Taiwanese film Unofficial History of Time.
Li: I think the production is good, the editing and poetic images are good too, but there is no
message from the film.
Wong: It is a very simple film that emphasises cinematography techniques. When making thiskind of film, it is easy to use clichéd Shunji Iwai blurry style. But I think the director goes one
step further and use a very low light way to shoot. The mise-en-scène of those shots is very
beautiful. I think this film is very beautiful.
Li: The primary reason for the selection is because of the visuals, such as the trolley. I like thesethings very much, but I think for a short film, it is really too light.
Wu: The novel that it is based on should be very interesting. It has the feeling of a girl thinking
about her first love after growing up, or thinking about the boy she met by chance, and thenreminiscing about it and feeling rejuvenated. It is difficult to make a good-looking film out of
this material, and it should be said that it is difficult make a film about daily life and feelings.
This is not the director’s problem, it is just difficult to do it. The visuals looks like music video,
and the director should be good at making films for young people.
Wong: He has a little bit of creativity, and this work does not look like a typical youth film. I think
he has worked hard and took the genre a step forward.
Li: There are many such films in Taiwan. We are the best at producing youth romance films.
Tsui: The next work is Mirage.
Wu: I do not think this work is too meaningful. It is not too good.
11

Li: I selected it in the first round because I thought his untold story behind is very scary. After her
driver mother died, her father took her with him. She says that man looks very much like herfather, both physically and verbally. You can guess what happened before and how strong andsuggestive this part was. But some of the shots were really poorly shot, for example, after they
have sex, I didn't understand what that shot was about. Why does the driver come down fromabove? I can't understand it, and if she wants to kill him, just do it, why does she have to havesex before killing him? I do not understand it very well, but I like that there is not too much
exposition, yet you can understand it and make the connections. Unlike some other works that
do not express things very well and claim that they do not want to do so. I think the two are
different. At least this part is done quite well.
Wu: If she was a serial killer, it would look better. If she does not cry and simply comes to kill men,going from one truck to the other, that would be fine. It would be more subversive that way.
Chong: The interesting part is that it is unanticipated, but the bad part is that it is left unexplained.
She just walks away calmly, but the whole treatment is too plain. I also feel the same as you
about that shot, why does she come down from above? Has he been lying down there?
Li: I can't understand it. That shot is really baffling.
Tsui: The next work is Reclaim My Summer.
Chong: It shows me a different side of Taiwan. As an outsider, I feel that the acting is very precise.
I like it very much. The actors look unprofessional, yet their performance is very wild.
Li: They're all very similar to those characters.
Chong: I wonder if they are actually people living in that place?
Li: No, not at all.
Chong: I like it very much. This actress is very spot on and very real. They seem non-professionalin the sense that their acting seems real and completely convincing, especially in the scenes in
the room. Her mother packs all those things into her room. The film portrays those on thebottom rung of society, unlike Unofficial History of Time. It is so good.
Chen: I like its strong point very much, that is, the performances are very natural. When I watched
it today, I did not like it as much as before, because this is something that happens more often
now, which is the romanticisation of those at the bottom of society. The actors are extremely
natural and the production is very good. However, as far as I know, Taiwan’s recycling industry
is basically in collapse.
12Li: Collapse? Why?
Chen: There is no way to make money by recycling. The report I read said that in Taiwan in thepast, you can take things to be recycled in exchange for money, but you cannot do that now.
Li: That’s a bit different. Those people are scavengers. Many old men and women make a livingfrom this. Now the income from that has drastically reduced. But this film is about a large scrap
yard, so and they make money based on the price difference between the things they collected
and then resale. In the film, the grandma is the one who started the scrap yard, so it is a familybusiness. I like this film very much. Actually, I do not really like short films that tell stories. I
think short films work best if they talk about an issue and just touch on the subject. But I reallylike this story because it talks about the growth of this girl overnight. It uses these very realistic,
subtle ways to do it. The production of the entire movie is very good. The art direction, actors'
performances, etc., are integrated very well by the director. The boy who kissed her waschosen as best newcomer at the Taipei Film Festival, which means they are not nonprofessionals. They are new actors who have just started to become interested in acting. Lookat the casting choices of this director. The girl has pimples on her dark face, and the boy isskinny. He looks like a country boy in Taiwan. If we have to choose one narrative film for awards,
we should choose this one.
Wu: Personally, I like this film. I think it is like what you said without a trace, and it is very good,very high skill and scheduling, very comfortable to watch. The first shot is already very good.
The opening of the film, the introduction and personality of each character have beenpresented very well from the first shot. I really like that woman, and I envy why there is sucha good actress in Taiwan. One disadvantage is that why suddenly ask aunt if she had money
while she is eating, which was a bit too deliberate. If director can handle that part a little better,
it would be perfect. When she came home and said whatever, I really cried right away, got
goosebumps, and they played so well. The feeling of that woman and the little girl is very real
to me. "Why should I give it to you, I don't want to give it to you" I think the acting is very good,
and at the end she said, "I saved the money and will pay it back to you", expressing that themother-daughter relationship is very warm.
Chong: Is the mother a professional actress?
Li: They are all actors. The people who helped her change the motorcycle seat are all actors. They
have acted in some student works and corporate works, but have not acted in mainstream
films.
Wu: If this was the director’s graduation project, It is great.
Chong: It feels like I can smell the environment. The garbage dump and the room all have13

distinctive smells.
Li: What’s great about the film is that it treats these people as equals and does not make you feelthat life as a garbage collector is miserable.
Wu: The script was very well written except for that scene (having dinner).
Tsui: You can choose your three favourite works first and then discuss your choices.
Li: I have already decided. Can I Hug You? for Gold award, Reclaim My Summer for Silver, andSpecial Mention is the Indian film Mirage.
Wong: My Gold and Silver award nominations are the same as hers, and my Special Mention is
Unofficial History of Time.
Wu: My Gold award nominee is Reclaim My Summer, Silver is Mirage from India, and Special
Mention is Can I Hug You?. I do not think there’s anything wrong with this film, I just think they
could have done better with this subject matter. I regret that it is not good enough.
Chen: My Gold award nominee is Can I Hug You?, Silver is Mirage from India, and my Special
Mention is Reclaim My Summer.
Chong: My Gold award nominee is Can I Hug You?, Silver is Reclaim My Summer, and Special
Mention is India's Mirage.
Tsui: Judging from the voting, the Gold award will go to Can I Hug You?. The Silver award will go
to Reclaim My Summer. As for Special Mention, Mirage received the most votes, but it didn't
get more than half the votes. Now we can have another round of discussion. Do you all agreewith this result, or do you have other comments on the result?
Wong: Can there be more than one Special Mention?
Tsui: Yes, if you can give a special reason why you want to have more than one Special Mention.
Wong: If we could have a second Special Mention, I would give it to Unofficial History of Time.
The special aspect is the cinematography and its lyrical treatment of memory. I feel thattechnical aspects are usually underrated, but with this work, the technique is also innovative.
As a director, I think it is not easy for the director to achieve this. Her visual sense is very strong,so I think the work deserves a Special Mention.
Chong: If I had to recognise another work, I think it would be Hearing from the Dolphin.

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Chen: I think the cinematography of Unofficial History of Time is beautiful, but that’s it. The film
is a bit hollow.
Li: The actors’ performance is very bad. Especially their voices. I can't even listen to them.
Wong: Really? I think it is very interesting. I thought it was intentional.
Li: I have no intention of mentioning one more Special Mention because I think it needs to bevaluable. I think it is an encouragement to select ten films from more than two hundred films.
Wu: I also think giving one Special Mention is okay, because I think Unofficial History of Time andHearing from the Dolphin are similar in quality. For me, there is no need to offer anotherSpecial Mention.
Chong: We will put on record that this work is the second Special Mention, not the first one.
Chen: I also like Hearing from the Dolphin, but I think there should only be one Special Mention,and it should go to one deserving work. That film is the one with the smallest production scale
among the finalists.
Wu: Mirage, the Indian film, right?
Chen: Yes.
Tsui: Gold goes to Can I Hug You?, Silver goes to Reclaim My Summer, and Special Mention goesto Mirage from India.
(The jury members agree.)

29th ifva Awards
Asian New Force Category Award Winners

Gold AwardCan I Hug You?
Elahe Esmaili (Iran)

Silver Award
Reclaim My Summer
Chen Hao Wei (Taiwan)
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Special Mention
MirageYash Sawant (India)

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