For its 20th edition, the Kaohsiung Film Festival, which is taking from October 9 to 26, 2026, maintains a very strong connection with French cinema, which is always well represented at this renowned Taiwanese festival.
Originally known for its international short film competition, the Kaohsiung Film Festival began featuring a selection of VR works very early on. In addition to screenings at iconic venues such as the Kaohsiung Film Archive and, more recently, the Neiwei Art Center, the festival now takes place in the vast spaces at Pier 2, former industrial docks that have been repurposed for temporary exhibitions. Under the name XR Dreamland, several theaters offer the public and the many international industry professionals in attendance the opportunity to discover some thirty XR works selected across various sections (Competition, Spotlight, Special Projects, etc.). Of particular note are the high-quality production values, which allow the works to benefit from staging rarely seen at a festival.
The Kaohsiung Festival also provided an opportunity to announce the latest recipients of the Villa Formose XR, an international program of bilateral artist residencies between France and Taiwan, created by the Bureau Français in Taipei.
Introduced by Josué Serres, Director of the Centre de coopération et d’action culturelle de Taipei, and moderated by the festival’s XR programmer, Kuan-jen Wang, this event provided an opportunity to meet the recipients and learn about their projects:
- Tatiana Collet Apraxine for her Mystis project
- Stéphanie Sphyras and Benoît Nguyen Tat for their The Party project.
This year, no less than 13 French short films or titles co-produced by France were in Competition at the Kaohsiung Film Festival.
- With Tapes and Toasts in the Car by Kiana Naghshineh
- Fried Chicken and Strip Checkers by Ophelia Harutyunyan
- I Think You Should Be Here by Anna-Marija Adomaitytė and Elie Grappe
- Somewhere in a Free Country by Antonin Peretjatko
- J'étais venue pour voir by Gabrielle Bernet
- The Scarecrow by Grégoire Pontécaille
- Zizou by Khaled Moeit
- Home Is Where the Heart Is by Timothée Engasser
- For The Opponents by Federico Luis
- Taxi Moto by Gaël Kamilindi
- What the statues are looking at by Léo Blandino
- What Do the Maknines Dream Of by Sarra Ryma
- The End by Niki Lindroth Von Bahr
Fried Chicken and Strip Checkers by Ophelia Harutyunyan received a Special Mention in the International strand.
On the XR front, 12 French works were selected in Competition, and three in Spotlight:
XR Competition
- The Island of Shells by Hao-Yuan Chang, Shiue-Ying Wei, and Chia-Wen Ko
- Amsterdam 1652 : The Hands of the City by Vincent Slangen and Nienke Huitenga-Broeren
- Crafting Crimes: the Mona Lisa Heist by Chloé Rochereuil
- Empathy Creatures by Mélodie Mousset
- Everest : the First Ascent by Jean Dellac and Benjamin Auriche
- Katabasis by Ugo Arsac
- After the shell by Pierre Moulin
- Outrenoir by Gordon
- The Double by Blanca Li
- The Forgotton War by Hayoun Kwon
- Touching The Sky by Jonathan Griffith
- Yesterday Maybe by Matthieu Van Eeckhout
Spotlight
- The Metamorphoses of Guernica by Nicolas Thépot
- Collective Body by Sarah Silverblatt‑buser
- Mission To The Moon by Léa Ducré
To complement this outstanding selection, Unifrance sponsored the travel of 10 French industry professionals—directors and producers of the featured films: Voyelle Acker, Ugo Arsac, Eric Barbedor, Chloé Jarry, François Klein, Pierre Moulin, Sarah Silverblatt‑buser, Richard Turco, and Matthieu Van Eeckhout for the XR section, and the director Léo Blandino for his film What the statues are looking at.
The awards ceremony took place on Sunday, October 18, and the festival continues through the 26th.
