This Weekend: Taiwanese Films

This scintillating photo is a still from Spider Lilies, the latest offering from director Zero Chou. Although there are many reasons to hone in on Chou's filmography, it was her first name that caught my eye. Zero.

During high school, I noticed that students from China or Japan tended to adopt Western names, and sometimes strange ones at that. I recall, on graduation day, names like Pinky Chan, Sweety Cho, August Lai. (Of course, I'm sure the MC had a field day with my name.)

After snickering about her name in the press release, I explored Chou further. Turns out, she's caught the international film industry's eye, and won some prestigious awards.

Chou used to be a reporter, but turned to independent filmmaking because she felt useless in the face of the tragic stories she had to work on. Since relocating herself behind the camera, she has racked up many awards. For Spider Lilies, a film about two women who fall in love because of a tattoo, the 2007 Berlin Film Festival ranked it as "Best Gay/Lesbian Feature Film".

During Vancouver's Taiwanese Cultural Festival, you can check out four other films from Chou: Corners, Poles Extremity, Splendid Float, and Vision of Darkness. She will also hold a film seminar on Saturday afternoon. All of these events are going on at the Plaza of Nations this weekend.

Photo courtesy of Vancouver International Film Centre