Czech Mezipatra Queer Film Festival focuses on Taiwan and screens 2 works selected for Berlin Film Festival
"Taiwan Focus" selects "Love" and "Three Hall Movies", and the film festivals are held in Prague and Brno
Quick Look
The Chinese Representative Office in the Czech Republic cooperated with the Mezipatra Queer Film Festival in the Czech Republic to launch the "Taiwan Focus" special topic on Taiwanese films at the 27th film festival, selecting two works by Zhu Ping "Love to Do Evil" and Su Huiyu's "Three Halls of Cinema", and arranged a total of 4 screenings and post-screening discussions in Prague and Brno.
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Why It Matters
Mezipatra Queer Film Festival was founded in 2000 and is one of the representative queer film festivals in Central and Eastern Europe. This is the 27th edition, which will be held in Prague from November 5th to 12th and will move to Brno from November 13th to 20th.
The film festival held a special panel discussion titled "Queer Taiwan: Between Love and Rebellion" in Prague on November 7. (Provided by the Ministry of Culture)
[Reporter Ling Meixue/Reporting from Taipei] For the first time, the cultural section of the Chinese Representative Office in the Czech Republic has cooperated with the Mezipatra Queer Film Festival in the Czech Republic to launch the "Taiwan Focus" Taiwanese film special topic at this year's 27th edition. It selected two Taiwanese works, including director Zhu Ping's "Silent Sparks" and Su Huiyu's "The Trio Hall", and invited Taiwanese filmmakers to the Czech Republic to participate in post-screening discussions and exchanges.
The Ministry of Culture stated that the Mezipatra Queer Film Festival was founded in 2000 and is one of the representative queer film festivals in Central and Eastern Europe. This film festival will be held in Prague, the capital, from November 5th to 12th, and will move to Brno, the second largest city, from November 13th to 20th. A total of 4 screenings of "Taiwan Focus" on Taiwan will be held in the two places.
Among them, director Zhu Ping's first feature film "Love" was selected for the "Panorama" section of the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival. It uses Taiwanese gangsters as the background, integrates crime movies and gay emotional narratives, and explores male emotions, traditional masculinity and marginalized situations in society. "Three Hall Movies" directed by contemporary artist Su Huiyu was selected for the Forum section of the Berlin Film Festival in the same year. It uses Taiwan's popular "Three Hall Movies" culture as the creative starting point. It combines elements such as TV variety shows, song and dance performances, and political satire, and uses absurd and humorous techniques to reinterpret Cold War history and political figures, and explore ideologies and power relations.
The Ministry of Culture quoted Kristýna Genttnerová, director of the Mezipatra Film Festival, as saying that each year the film festival will select a region as a special focus to explore the living conditions of queer people in different social environments. This year the focus is on Taiwan. Despite the special geopolitical environment, Taiwan still provides a friendly and safe social space for the LGBTQ+ community. We hope that through exchanges between Taiwanese filmmakers and Czech audiences, we can enhance local audiences’ understanding of Taiwan’s contemporary films and creative environment. For details, please consult the festival’s official website (https://www.mezipatra.cz/en/).
Open Questions
- Specific screening dates and schedule
- The specific list and time of Taiwanese filmmakers going to the Czech Republic to participate in discussions
- Czech audience and media responses to Taiwan topic
