DAYS
Closing film, plus Q&A with Director, Tsai Ming-Liang and Professor Chris Berry
Director: Tsai Ming-Liang
127 minutes. Taiwan. 2020. Colour. D-Cinema.
Official Selection, Berlin International Film Festival 2020. Winner Teddy Jury Award, 2020 Berlin International Film Festival
Speaking about Days, Tsai Ming-Liang says ‘… there was really no plan for this film at all’. As in much of Tsai cinema, the film is almost devoid of narrative or dialogue, with scenes unfolding slowly through long takes. Yet we are immersed in this mesmerising, delicate, sensual playing out of events. The film could be a dream!
Tsai draws inspiration for this latest collaboration with long-standing actor muse Lee Kang-Sheng from watching Laotian Anong Houngheuangsy via video chat: ‘cooking his hometown foods in his rather shabby room’.
The film depicts a one night encounter between two men who meet in a hotel room in Bangkok and share a beautiful, intimate moment where time seems suspended.
Preceding this, we watch a succession of moments of such natural gentleness, where they both separately drift through their day, carrying out their own solitary activities from movement (cooking, walking) to stillness (bathing, sleeping).
This is a film about loneliness, isolation, human relationships connected by desire and tenderness, and about waiting, meeting, and parting.
About Tsai Ming-Liang
Born in Malaysia in 1957 and Taiwan-based, Tsai Ming-Liang is one of the most prominent filmmakers of the new cinema movement in Taiwan. He is known for his austere and sophisticated visual style and his themes and ideas on loneliness, isolation, alienation and the torments of human relationships with his characters wandering through post-industrial, dilapidated urban spaces. His debut feature Rebels of the Neon Gods (1992) brought him almost instantaneous international success. He is a many times winner at the Venice International Film Festival; Vive l’amour (1994) won the Golden Lion award; Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) won the FIPRESCI Prize; and Stray Dogs (2014) won the Grand Jury Prize. Other films include The River (1997) winner of the Jury Award at Berlinale; The Hole (1998) winner of FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival; I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (2006) which was made in his native Malaysia. His films made in France include What Time Is It There? (2001), and Face (Visage) (2009) which was co-produced by the Louvre in Paris. He has also presented video installations at the Venice and Shanghai biennales and is a playwright and theatre director. His work has featured in art festivals in Brussels, Vienna and Taipei.
Days (2020) screened in the main competition section and won the jury Teddy Award at the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival; and it has premiered at the 2020 and 2021 following film festival: Taipei FF; IndieLisboa International FF; San Sebastián FF; BFI London FF; New York FF; Gent International FF; Chicago International FF; Queer Porto-Festival Internacional de Cinema Queer; Mostra - São Paulo International FF; Kyiv Critics Week, Ukraine; San Diego Asian FF; Busan International FF; Tokyo FILMeX; Seoul International Pride FF; Taipei Golden Horse FF; Thessaloniki International FF; Singapore International FF; Festival des 3 Continents, France; Mexico FICUNAM; Göteborg FF
