The first Annual Taiwanese American Film Festival (TAFF) was held on Saturday in Downtown Los Angeles.
Presented by TAP-LA, the festival comprised of 16 inspiring shorts, a feature documentary on TA Jeopardy! villain Arthur Chu and boasted panel speakers Kelvin Yu (Master Of None) and Charles Yu (Westworld).
TAFF claims to be the only showcase in the US of short film and mediaworks by Taiwanese American and Taiwanese international filmmakers. Even the festival organisers comprised of filmmakers and entertainment industry professionals who were all of Taiwanese descent.
Festival Director Roxy Shih (Dark/Web) said, “By creating this festival, we hope to open the conversation further on diversity by putting the spotlight on Taiwanese-American and Taiwanese filmmakers.
“We hope to bridge the gap between these two communities by seeing what kind of stories we share through our common roots as well as open up Taiwan’s culture to a bigger audience.”
Festival Executive Director Anthony Ma (Scandal) added, “One of our goals is to use this festival to cultivate a platform where Taiwanese American and Taiwanese filmmakers will not only connect and share their stories, but also find support in each other in their filmmaking journeys and ultimately build a strong community of influencers.
“As a filmmaker who’s seen how a film festival can inspire and instill confidence in a community and an individual artist, I feel that this is integral in our progression as a Taiwanese people.”
Amongst the 16 shorts shown at the festival were films that screened at France’s Cannes Film Festival, Poland’s Krakow Film Festival and Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
