Following the First Taiwanese Film Festival (TWFF)’s incredible success last year, the Second Taiwanese Film Festival “TWFF II” will be held in Vancouver once again starting from June 20th to 22nd for a duration of three days at the Vancouver International Film Centre. Last year in April, the First Taiwanese Film Festival presented by UBC Literature Etc. came to a successful end in thundering applauses and amazing amount of positive feedbacks. All 10 screenings were sold out, winning the recognition and support from various communities. Furthermore, the festival offered people who had never seen Taiwanese films a chance to taste the refined art of Taiwanese films and a feel of Taiwan’s unique local communities and culture. After a year of anticipation, UBCLE is now set in gear for the Second Taiwanese Film Festival. This year, the theme of the festival is “The Footprints of Youth”, featuring six Taiwanese films, My Football Summer, The Most Distant Course, Island Etude, Shonenko, Keeping Watch and Love’s Lone Flower, each with international film festival awards or nominations. The six films illustrate six different paths of life tied together by the theme of youth and growth; yet, these lives strongly contrast with each other as the elements of time and environment differ in each. For example, My Football Summer documents a group of grade-9 students burning their passion and lighting up their lives with their time, effort and hard work. They built an irreplaceable bond of teamwork, supported each other through hardships and practiced on the soccer field hours after hours—all for the simple yet magnificent dream of winning the title of the national soccer championship. On the other hand, in Shonenko, 8,000 Taiwanese boys were sent away from their homeland to work in military fighter plane factories in Japan during World War II which twisted the fate of these boys forever. Both documentaries are focused on the life of a group of harmless boys; yet, the struggles the two groups go through are entirely different. The other four films, The Most Distant Course, Island Etude, Keeping Watch, and Love’s Lone Flower also invoke thoughts and ponderings as they lead the audience to appreciate the realization, passion and struggles experienced by these young people. Aside from introducing these excellent Taiwanese films to the Vancouver community, borrowing the words of directors Li-chou Yang director and Huai-en Chen, it is also hoped that through this film festival, these films will let people to reflect on their youth and wonder, “What have I done when I was 15? What was I like?” and to inspire the younger generations who have the potential to achieve great things that “some things, if you don’t do it now, you will never do it again.” Our Mandate www.ubcle.com