Taiwan is the place to be this June!
Michael Powell will be the Director in Focus this year.
See their web site for details
2011 Taipei Film Festival will launch on June 24 this year. As London was voted the favorite choice for Focus City, this year the film selection will center on works by several prestigious directors from the UK, including Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean and Tony Richardson, as well as the masterpieces by the Director in Focus this year: Michael Powell.
Spanning more than 5 decades, the Classic Selection will feature many films, among them The 39 Steps by Alfred Hitchcock from as early as 1935, Brief Encounter by David Lean in 1945, to If...., directed by Lindsay Anderson in 1968. And the list does not end here. A special selection of films is dedicated to Michael Powell, the Director in Focus this year. The Tales of Hoffmann, Black Narcissus along with 3 other classics will be presented to pay tribute to his groundbreaking work. The world did not acknowledge Michael Powell's achievement until much later when famed directors, such as Martin Scorsese and Francis F. Coppola publicly praised his originality and vision. Taiwanese audiences have seen a lot of movies under Powell's influence without realizing it. This is a great opportunity to see the master's works during the festival.
Black Narcissus kicks off the PnP selection of the Taipei Film Festival. BN will be shown on the 24th of June at 12.40pm and the 11th July at 9.30pm. Here's the Black Narcissus page. Hopefully, it will be spotted by all those who wish to see it, as the 24th doesn't appear to be included amongst the dates of the main programme.
I Know Where I'm Going! is next in line, and will be screened on consecutive days, the weekend of the 24th and 25th June, at 1.30pm and 10.30am, respectively. Here's the IKWIG page. Unfortunately, I Know Where I'm Going! doesn't appear on the listings by date (the 25th) on either day despite the fact that the rest of the PnP films other than BN are part of the main listings (so there's no consistent separation between old and new films). I'll mail them about it.
Next in line is the most impressive of the festival's PnP selections for being the most uncompromising, The Tales of Hoffmann, which will be screened on the 4th July at 7.20pm and the 9th July at 4pm. Here's the ToH page.
The Small Back Room joins The Tales of Hoffmann for a superb, unusual, double-bill on the 9th July. SBR will be screened at 10.30am on the 9th, plus 6.10pm on the 12th July. Here's the SBR page.
The Taipei Film Festival's PnP focus turns finally to Michael Powell's own favourite of their films: A Matter Of Life And Death. AMOLAD will be screened on the 10th July at 3pm. The second PnP double-bill is set up by AMOLAD joining The Small Back Room - the film MP once spoke of as the best he'd made - on the 12th July at 12.50pm. Here's the AMOLAD page.
