
Green Island Serenade by Hou Chi-Jan
10+10 by Hsiao-Hsien HOU, Toon Wang, Nien-Chen WU, Yen-Ping CHUH
TWN/CHN 2011, Panorama
Inititated by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, twenty outstanding Taiwanese directors were each asked to create one five-minute short film inspired by the same topic: the uniqueness of their country.
The resulting stories and documentaries, which did not have to adhere to any kind of dictates, either formally or in terms of content, provide an astonishingly multifaceted panorama of Taiwanese society. The filmmakers’ personal perspectives span a wide-ranging network of images, between historical events and political vigilance, rebellion and devotion, magical realism and unflinching illusion. The diverse cinematic approaches used by these cineastes open a window onto their own imagination – whether they choose to employ an epistolary form, or a monologue, to include elements of a thriller, silent cinema, theatre of the absurd or dark comedy, or simply to observe carefully with a camera.
Hou Hsiao-Hsien, one of the leading proponents of Taiwanese new wave cinema, opens and closes this portmanteau film with his minimalistic tale LA BELLE ÉPOQUE which focuses on the primal cell of any society – the family unit. An unusual film project that gives us an impressive array of food for thought.
The resulting stories and documentaries, which did not have to adhere to any kind of dictates, either formally or in terms of content, provide an astonishingly multifaceted panorama of Taiwanese society. The filmmakers’ personal perspectives span a wide-ranging network of images, between historical events and political vigilance, rebellion and devotion, magical realism and unflinching illusion. The diverse cinematic approaches used by these cineastes open a window onto their own imagination – whether they choose to employ an epistolary form, or a monologue, to include elements of a thriller, silent cinema, theatre of the absurd or dark comedy, or simply to observe carefully with a camera.
Hou Hsiao-Hsien, one of the leading proponents of Taiwanese new wave cinema, opens and closes this portmanteau film with his minimalistic tale LA BELLE ÉPOQUE which focuses on the primal cell of any society – the family unit. An unusual film project that gives us an impressive array of food for thought.
Additional information

Group photo with Wieland Speck
The section director and the film team.
10+10 · Panorama · Feb 14, 2012

Hou Hsiao Hsien
10+10 · Panorama · Feb 14, 2012
© Gerhard Kassner / Berlinale

Sylvia Chang
10+10 · Panorama · Feb 14, 2012
© Gerhard Kassner / Berlinale
Wang Yenni (Director), Wei Te-Sheng (Director), Shen Ko-Shang (Director), Yang Ya-Che (Director), Arvin B. Chen (Director), Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Director), Sylvia Chang (Director), Cheng Wen-Tang (Director), Chu Yen-Ping (Director), Wang Shau-Di (Director)
10+10
Panorama · Press Conference · Feb 14, 2012