Taiwan Broadens Global Co-Production Presence at Toronto Film Festival

Taiwan is bringing a broad slate of films and projects to the Toronto International Film Festival, including two world premieres, a Taiwan-Japan genre film, a virtual-reality work and market projects, according to reporting by Variety.

Feng-I Fiona Roan’s “Happily Ever After” will premiere in the Special Presentations strand. The director’s second feature follows “American Girl,” which won five prizes at Taiwan’s 2021 Golden Horse Awards. The new film explores sisterhood and the pressure on women to conform to competing ideas of happiness. It also marks Taiwanese singer and television personality Shu-hua’s film acting debut.

Malaysian filmmaker Edmund Yeo’s “The Age of Goodbyes,” another Special Presentations world premiere, is a Taiwan-Malaysia co-production adapted from Li Zi Shu’s novel. Vivian Sung and Troy Liu star in interconnected stories spanning different periods and shaped by love, loss and the legacy of Malaysia’s May 13, 1969, racial violence.

The film was shot entirely in Malaysia, with Taiwanese collaborators handling cinematography, lighting and costume, while Yeo’s Malaysian team oversaw production design. Post-production took place in Taiwan, and Taiwanese financing represented the larger share of the jointly structured production, Variety reported. Renaissance Films joined as the lead Taiwanese production partner after producer David Tang encountered Yeo’s interpretation of the novel at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum.

In Midnight Madness, Sabu’s Taiwan-Japan co-production “Arrested Memory” will receive its North American premiere after screening out of competition at Venice. Ethan Juan plays a decorated detective who develops early-onset memory loss after a failed sting operation and becomes involved in an overnight pursuit after being entrusted with a multimillion-dollar ransom he cannot remember.

Taiwan’s TIFF presence also includes Singing Chen’s Taiwan-Germany co-production “The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up,” a free-roaming virtual-reality experience adapted from a story by Taiwanese author Wu Ming-Yi. The project will have its Canadian premiere in the festival’s Innovation Hub. Together, the lineup highlights Taiwan’s role across feature filmmaking, international financing, cross-border production and immersive work.