2025/5/13
The 27th Taipei Film Festival has unveiled the 10 official selections for its prestigious International New Talent Competition, as well as the international jury lineup. This year, two Taiwanese films—Family Matters directed by PAN Ke-yin and Eel by CHU Chun-teng—stood out from 443 submissions worldwide to represent Taiwan in the competition. 

The jury is chaired by Taipei Film Award-winning screenwriter Mag HSU, joined by twice Golden Horse-nominated actor Mason LEE, Berlinale programmer Jessica KIANG, internationally acclaimed Filipino producer Bianca BALBUENA (Viet and Nam), and Japanese director MATSUNAGA Daishi, whose debut film premiered at the Jeonju IFF. Together, they will select winners for the “Grand Prize” and “Special Jury Prize.”

Additionally, the “Taiwan Directors Guild Award” (Director’s Guild of Taiwan Recommendation) will be decided by three renowned directors: Gilles Yang (The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful), Fen Fen CHENG (Hear Me, Workers), and Liao Shih Han (The Rope Curse series). The “Audience Choice Award” will also be presented at the awards ceremony on June 24.

This year’s Taiwanese entries highlight unique creative visions and a deep engagement with local themes. Family Matters by PAN Ke-yin stars Tseng Jing-Hua, Yao Chun-Yao, Lan Wei-Hua, Alexia Kao, Queena Huang, and Chu I-Min. With layered perspectives and non-linear timelines, it delicately explores intergenerational emotions within a family of four. Meanwhile, Eel, directed by CHU Chun-teng and selected for Berlinale’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino section, stars Devin Pan and singer-songwriter Misi Ke. Blending fantasy and realism, the film portrays a symbolic urban encounter between a Shezi Island youth and a mysterious woman.

Other selections include powerful coming-of-age tales and social reflections. Chinese director JING Yi’s The Botanist follows a Kazakh boy on the Xinjiang grasslands whose bond with nature and a Han Chinese girl leads to a poetic story of cross-ethnic friendship and growth. Turkish director Seyfettin TOKMAK’s Empire of the Rabbits, drawn from his real-life refugee aid experience, depicts a young boy’s search for tenderness amid harsh realities—blending fable with social critique.

Themes of trauma and memory are also explored. Lithuanian director Laurynas BAREIŠA’s Drowning Dry uses non-linear repetition to explore the ripple effects of a drowning incident within a family, symbolizing diverse manifestations of psychological trauma. In Wind, Talk to Me, Serbian director Stefan DJORDJEVIC merges documentary and fiction, appearing alongside his family in a gentle meditation on grief and nature.

Female-centric perspectives also shine. Spanish actress Paz VEGA makes her directorial debut with Rita, an autobiographical portrayal of a 7-year-old girl witnessing domestic violence during a sweltering 1980s summer in Madrid. Alexandra MAKAROVÁ’s Perla takes the mother-daughter pair on a homecoming journey through collective memory and political trauma, using the female body as a vessel of history.

Gender identity and body politics are front and center in Portuguese director Paula Tomás MARQUES’s Two Times João Liberada, where a metafictional actor-director duo question identity, suffering, and the ethics of reenactment through a play-within-a-film structure.

Finally, Dominican director Johanné GÓMEZ TERRERO’s Sugar Island fuses colonial history, voodoo rituals, and visual experimentation into a modern myth about a young girl’s transformation after an unexpected pregnancy in the sugarcane fields—an allegory rich in anti-colonial and spiritual overtones.

This year’s International New Talent Forum will feature jury members Jessica KIANG and Bianca BALBUENA, alongside competing directors Johanné GÓMEZ TERRERO (Sugar Island) and Seyfettin TOKMAK (Empire of the Rabbits), sharing practical insights with audiences and emerging Taiwanese filmmakers. The forum aims to foster dialogue across cultures and support new directors on their path to global recognition.

The 27th Taipei Film Festival will be held between June 20 and July 5, 2025, at Taipei Zhongshan Hall, Vie Show Cinema Taipei Hsin Yi, and SPOT-Huashan Cinema. The program and events will be announced in batches.  Nominees for the Taipei Film Awards will be revealed on May 15. For more details, please go to Taipei Film Festival official website: https://www.taipeiff.taipei/tw/.