2024 Kaohsiung Film Festival Concludes with Record-Breaking Box Office and Merchandise Sales, Attracting Over 20,000 Film Enthusiasts

2024 Kaohsiung Film Festival (KFF) concluded on October 27th after sixteen days of screenings and events. Total box office sales approached three million NT dollars, with the XR Dreamland virtual reality program once again contributing one million NT dollars to the total. Festival merchandise, created in collaboration with Taiwanese illustrator KINGJUN, saw sales double compared to the previous festival edition. This year’s festival showcased 198 features and shorts across 197 screenings, attracting over 20,000 attendees. The XR Dreamland program featured 44 works, with 11,282 screenings. Notably, over 60% of the XR program screenings sold out, drawing more than 7,000 participants. These record-breaking numbers set a new milestone for the festival.

This year’s festival brought together around 300 filmmakers from Taiwan and abroad, with the XR Dreamland program welcoming over 50 XR professionals from across the globe. Together, they participated in more than 112 festival events. Among these, the masterclass by renowned Japanese director KUROSAWA Kiyoshi was a full-house highlight. KUROSAWA captivated audiences with his insights into filmmaking while enthusiastically sharing his love for video games. Another notable moment was the special screening of The Wayward Cloud (4K Restoration) by Taiwan-based Malaysian director TSAI Ming-liang. The screening featured a dazzling live performance by drag queen Draggy Boo Boo, who glamorously recreated the film’s iconic “watermelon umbrellas” dance scene. In addition, the “Boys in Love” section, which gained popularity in last year’s edition, returned with great success. Michael CHANG, Charles TU, and Tim LIU from the drama series First Note of Love attended the event, sparking great excitement among fans in the cinema.

The festival welcomed several esteemed international guests, including Jin PARK, programmer for the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, who served as a jury member for the KFF International Short Film Competition. Michele ZIEGLER, Director of NewImages Festival & Hub in Paris, and Michel REILHAC, Curator for Venice Immersive, also participated as jury members for this year’s XR Competition. Other notable attendees included Japanese directors KUROSAWA Kiyoshi, FUJITA Naoya, UGANA Kenichi, and SHINOHARA Tetsuo, as well as Korean directors HWANG Da-seul and KIM Min-ha. These filmmakers not only shared their works but also provided valuable insights into their creative processes during the festival.

This year, the festival introduced a new section titled The Personal is Political: Use of Autobiography in the Films of Southeast Asian Women Directors. Megan WONOWIDJOYO, director of Woman at Home, and Pauline Soh, Curator of the National Gallery Singapore, attended the festival and engaged with audiences in person. In collaboration with the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, KFF also presented the program, BIFAN X KFF: AI Films. Hansl von KWON, CEO of the Korean studio STUDIO FREEWILLUSION Inc., and LU Te-hsing, Taiwanese director of the XR work SILIQ, led a masterclass, sharing valuable insights on emerging trends in AI technologies and their integration into filmmaking.

In addition to these sections, the festival hosted several popular side events, including the Sanrio Virtual Festival Project and the Taiwan-France Collaborative Music Show, which drew large crowds to the Pier-2 Art Center. This year, KFF also introduced two XR Out-of-Competition Awards, with a jury composed of six cross-disciplinary professionals, further highlighting outstanding XR works and expanding their reach to a broader audience.

The festival kicked off with the world premiere of Penguin Girl. Director Yuyu YANG and executive producer Jacqueline W. LIU joined actors ZHAN Huai-Yun, Charlize Lamb, Nadow LIN, and Zin YANG for a post-screening Q&A session, earning high accolades from the audience. The closing film, Hunter Brothers, brought the festival to a conclusion, with director SU Hung-en and the cast in attendance to mark the festival’s finale.

The annual theme of KFF this year was “Trapped in Youth.” The visual design was a collaboration between Onion Design Associates and popular Japanese illustrator NIMURA Daisuke, whose distinctive style vividly captured the essence of youth reflected in the festival’s annual theme. Eleven films of diverse styles were selected to explore this theme, ranging from classic masterpieces to cutting-edge works by emerging filmmakers, all of which attracted enthusiastic cinephiles.

Last year, KFF introduced the Annual Theme: Aestheticism, which received widespread acclaim. This year, the program returned as a regular section “Boys in Love” , showcasing the Taiwanese drama series First Note of Love: Ep. 11-12, filmed in Kaohsiung. The lineup also included this year’s highlights: the Korean boy’s love film Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo and the Japanese boy’s love film Let's Eat Together, Aki and Haru 2nd Cup! adapted from a popular manga. Additionally, the Special Screenings program featured the Hong Kong film All Shall Be Well, which explores the struggles faced by a lesbian couple after one partner’s passing. Directed by Ray YEUNG, the film addresses the flawed inheritance system for same-sex partners in Hong Kong. Hailed as a strong contender for this year’s Golden Horse Film Award, the film resonated deeply with audiences.

This year marked the 14th edition of the KFF International Short Film Competition, which received 2,485 submissions from 91 countries. The finalists included 41 international shorts and 21 Taiwanese shorts. In the XR Competition, 22 immersive works from 20 countries were shortlisted. Finally, the prestigious Golden Fireball Award was presented to Clear Sky (International Shorts), A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers (Taiwan Shorts), and All I Know About Teacher Li (XR Competition) in their respective categories. During the festival, 26 teams of shortlisted international filmmakers and over 100 shortlisted Taiwanese filmmakers attended screenings and events. KFF continues to host Taiwan’s largest international short film competition and remains the only festival in the country to feature an international XR competition.

As the largest XR immersive experience showcase in Asia, XR Dreamland was led this year by the curators behind Venice Immersive and the NewImages Festival & Hub in Paris. The program featured a series of international industry events focusing on global trends in virtual reality. Now in its seventh consecutive year, the XR Industry Week ran from October 17th to 20th, hosting 20 industry talks with participation from 45 international filmmakers and over 100 Taiwanese XR creative teams. The event also included 30 one-on-one mentorship sessions, fostering connections between international and local professionals. Notable participants included CHOU Tung-yen, director of Traversing the Mist, and Asio LIU Chihsiung, director of Somewhere Unknown in Indochina, who shared insights into their creative processes.

Kaohsiung Focus: Kaohsiung Shorts once again delivered an impressive lineup of short films this year, showcasing diverse perspectives from a range of filmmakers. Outstanding works such as How to Kill a Chicken, The First Snowfall, After the Cat, All Journey Toward Death and Breezy Day explored family relationships in various forms. Other noteworthy works included Flotsam by HSUEH Wen-shuo, a former winner of the Taiwan Student Award in the KFF International Short Film Competition, and the latest animated short Vor by director HUANG Ping-an, a former finalist in the same competition. 

In their fourth collaboration, Public Television Service and the Kaohsiung Film Archive invited emerging filmmakers CHANG Chih-teng, SU Hung-en, and WANG Yan-ping to each create a 15-minute short film inspired by the shared theme “Liminal South,” exploring the boundaries between reality and illusion. CHANG’s River Kidsssss centers on a River Spirit as the protagonist, prompting reflections on environmental issues. SU’s Rungay portrays the spiritual journey of a dying Indigenous elder guided by a mysterious human-like creature. Meanwhile, WANG’s Till Next Time draws from her personal star-struck experience with a boy group.

The 2024 Kaohsiung Film Festival, in collaboration with the Taiwan Technology X Culture Expo (TTXC), achieved historic milestones, breaking records in box office revenue, audience turnout, and filmmaker participation. For more information about the festival, visit our official website (www.kff.tw), Instagram account, or Facebook page.