Alifu
dir. Wang Yu-lin
Taiwan 2017, 96'
Th 18 Nov, 17:45
Su 21 Nov, 18:30
Alifu, the prince/ss - film introduction
World premiere: Tokyo International Film Festival Golden Horse FF 2017 - Best Supporting Actor (Bamboo Chu-Sheng Chen) Taipei FF 2018 - Best New Talent (Utjung Tjakivalid)
director: Wang Yu-lin
screenplay: Wang Yu Lin, Hsu Hua Chien, Hua Bo Rong, Chen Hui Ling
cinematography: Wang Pan Yun
editing: Hong Dong Ren, Chang Yi Nian
music: Blaire Ko
sound: Sidney Hu
cast: Utjon Tjakivalid, Zhao Yilan, Wu Pengfeng, Chen Zhusheng, Zheng Renshuo
producer: Gene Yao, Liu Ji Gang
production: Reel Suspects
language: Chinese, Aboriginal
Alifu works in a hair salon, enjoys city life, and dreams of raising enough money for a sex reassignment surgery. But, suddenly, family matters call Alifu back to the hometown Alifu grew up in – and where Alifu's father is the chief of a native community of the island. He is convinced his son will take over his duties as the leader.
The vivid traditions of the aboriginal culture and the pulsating lights of the club scene of Taipei – Wang's dynamic plot is filled with contrasts and fascinating protagonists. Alifu's story is intertwined with stories of Peizhan, Alifu's lesbian flatmate, or Sherry, a trans woman of an older generation and owner of a drag bar where civil servant Chris occasionally performs to unwind after a stressful day at work. The director shows the protagonists at a moment when they have to face the unexpected that will change their lives forever.
Alifu is played by Utjung Tjakivalid, actor, musician, and a member of the Paiwan community, who faced a lot of prejudice growing up as a non-heteronormative person. In the interviews, however, he stressed that although he expected his experiences to help him in the preparations for the role, it turned out that the reality of transgender people is completely different and he will be facing a lot of challenges. The filmmakers have put an enormous amount of work into the film – the idea for the script was based on facts, but they have conducted a lot of additional interviews with members of the Paiwan community and with transgender people to make their story more credible and to recreate the world of the protagonist in every detail.
Wang Yu-lin
Born in Taipei in 1964. He graduated from the School of Forestry at National Taiwan University, and studied Film and Video at the School of Visual Arts, New York. He owned Magnifique Creative Media Production company where he was in charge of editing, directing and producing films. His director debut is "7 Days in Heaven" which stormed over 1.4 M USD box office in Taiwan. It also got 7 Golden Horse Film Awards nominations including Best Picture.
2010 7 dni odchodzenia / Fu hou qi ri / 7 Days in Heaven
2012 Long Fei Feng Wu / Flying Dragon, Dancing Phoenix
2017 Alifu / Alifu, the prince/ss