Community Supporter
Taiwan202045 minTaiwanese Mandarin with English subtitlesToronto PremiereDrama, Reel Asian Award Winner
In a society different from what we know, a hotel in Taipei welcomes suicidal people and assists them in committing the act by providing several methods that they can choose from. Over the course of one night, a receptionist starts to defy the rules and develops an unusual friendship with a hotel guest who can't make up her mind on whether she wants to live or die.
Thoughtful and poetic, Taipei Suicide Story uses a few glimpses of grim dystopia to enforce transcendental and deeply human connections. The narrative explores the suffocating sensation of loneliness with a casual, empathetic and sweet approach, thus removing the social stigma and neutralizing the fleeting experiences between the two characters. KEFF's new film reflects on the mundanity of existence, the possibility of death or the opportunities of life, and the gift of choice—and the difference it makes.
- Roland Basmayor
Vivian Sung
Tender Huang
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Cinéfondation Selection, Cannes Film Festival, 2020
Fantasia Film Festival, 2021
Golden Harvest Short Film Festival, 2021
AWARDS
Grand Jury Prize (Narrative Features), Audience Award (Narrative Features), and Acting Award (Tender Huang), Slamdance Film Festival, 2021
Emerging Director for Narrative Feature Award, Asian American International Film Festival, 2021
KEFF
KEFF is a Taiwanese American multidisciplinary artist, and lives in New York and Taipei. He is an open-format DJ and producer, as well as a writer and film director. His first short film, Secret Lives of Asians at Night, was supported by the Spike Lee Film Fellowship and won the Jury Award for Best Asian American Film from the Director’s Guild of America. His second short film and NYU thesis, Taipei Suicide Story, had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival (Cinéfondation) and won the Grand Jury Prize (Narrative Feature) at the Slamdance Film Festival.
10 Nov, 2021
to 19 Nov, 2021
AA
Community Supporter
This presentation has English subtitles.
An Active Listener will be available to offer one-on-one peer support for viewers who may find the content of this presentation triggering. More info on how to access here.
This film contains the potentially triggering topic of suicide.
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Founded in Toronto in 1997, Reel Asian is Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival and a year-round cultural organization dedicated to championing Asian, Asian diasporic, and Asian Canadian artists and storytellers. What began as a grassroots film festival has grown into a national platform supporting filmmakers and audiences through screenings, education, industry initiatives, artist development, and community programming presented across Toronto, the GTA, and online across Canada.
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