On Happiness Road（幸福路上）

Country  Taiwan
Year  2017
Genre  Animation
Format  Color  / DCP
Runtime 111 min
Status  Completed
Release Date  Jan. 5, 2018  (Taiwan) 
Director  SUNG Hsin-Yin
Voice cast  GWEI Lun-Mei, WEI Te-Sheng

 

 

 

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Festivals & Awards

22^nd Busan International Film Festival – Wide Angle

54^th Golden Horse Film Festival – Closing Film

17^th  Tokyo Anime Award Festival – Grand Prize

42^nd  Hong Kong International Film Festival – Official Selection

20^th Udine Far East Film Festival – Official Selection

25^th  Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film – AniMovie Award

  6^th Singapore Chinese Film Festival – Official Selection

19^th Future Film Festival – Official Selection

42^nd  Annecy International Animation Film Festival – Official Selection

20^th Taipei Film Festival – Competition/ Grand Prize, Best Animation, Audience Choice Award

17^th New York Asian Film Festival – Official Selection

39^th Durban International Film Festival – Official Selection

67^th Melbourne International Film Festival – Official Selection

18^th Seoul International Animation Film Festival – Grand Prize

16^th Fantoche International Animation Film Festival – Official Selection

  3^rd Taiwan Film Festival in Brisbane – Official Selection

  2^nd LYCHEE Film Festival – Audience Choice Award

31^st Helsinki International Film Festival – Official Selection

12^th Balinale International Film Festival – Official Selection

44^th Ottawa International Animation Festival – Honorable Mention Award

11^th AnimaSyros International Animation Festival + Agora – Feature Competition Section

36^th Carrousel international du film de Rimouski – Best Feature Award (Young Adult Feature Film)

  1^st CinemAsia Film Festival Taiwan Focus – Opening Film

  5^th New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival – Competition

55^th Golden Horse Awards – Best Animation Feature

12^th Five Flavours Film Festival – Asian Animation

  6^th Ajyal Youth Film Festival – Competition

12^th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) – Nomination: Best Animated Feature Film

  4^th VOID International Animation Film Festival Copenhagen – Opening Film

  7^th Seattle Asian American Film Festival – Official Selection

2019 Happiness Film Festival – Official Selection

2019 Taiwan Film Festival UK – Public Screening

2019 Spotlight Taiwan Project Edinburgh College of Art – Official Selection

  4^th London East Asia Film Festival – Open Air Screening

 

 “Happiness is something to which all audiences are likely to relate, regardless of nationality or background. This is what makes On Happiness Road a universal tale, even though it’s rooted in Taiwanese history. Compelling and beautifully told through its captivating animation, it also demonstrates that Sung is a talented storyteller… READ MORE” –  Screen Daily ‘On Happiness Road’: Busan Review

“Taiwanese director Sung Hsin-yin’s animated feature debut is an ambitious, affecting mix of history and nostalgia that avoids cheap sentimentalityr… READ MORE” –  The Hollywood Reporter – ‘On Happiness Road’ (‘Xing Fu Lu Shang’): Film Review | Filmart 2018

“The captivating illustrations are the finishing touches to the excellent story and history lesson, adding a sense of the magical to the tale…, topping off the fantastical elements that make this film truly a gem… READ MORE” – Taipei Times: Movie Review

Trailer

Synopsis

Chi earned her American dream after persevering with her studies in Taiwan. Following her grandmothers’ death, Chi returns to her family on Happiness Road, where she begins to feel nostalgic about her childhood and starts to contemplate the meaning of “life” and “home”. What is happiness? Will Chi find her own happiness?

Director / Screenwriter  SUNG Hsin-Yin

HsinYin was born in Taipei. She studied Film Theory in Kyoto University, later graduated from Columbia College of Chicago with a Master’s Degree in Film. Before becoming a filmmaker, HsinYin was a journalist, writer, store clerk at Kyoto karaoke and photographer. As a filmmaker, HsinYin is interested in using different film genres to explore universal relationships among people. She has a particular interest in finding the pace of a film through editing, like composing a piece of music. Her live action shorts such as “The Red Shoes”, “Single Waltz” have been screened at numerous international film festivals. Her first directing animation short won The Best Animation Award at 2013 Taipei Film Festival. “On Happiness Road” is her first animation feature, and she is also working on her first live action feature “Love is a bitch”.

Voice cast

GWEI Lun-Mei as Chi

GWEI Lun-Mei is a Taiwanese actress. She started her acting career in the movie Blue Gate Crossing, and went on to gain more recognition in the movie Secret directed by Jay Chou. GWEI’s other notable films include Parking, Taipei Exchanges, Starry Starry Night, The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, GF*BF, and Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear Award winner Black Coal, Thin Ice. Her performance in GF*BF received critical acclaim and earned her Golden Horse Awards and Asia Pacific Film Festival for Best Actress in 2012.

Filmography
2016 Forêt Debussy
2014  Black Coal, Thin Ice
2012  GF*BF
2007  Secret
2002  Blue Gate Crossing

WEI Te-Sheng as Wen

Before he made the biggest box office success in the history of Taiwan cinema, Cape No. 7 (2008), Wei Te-Sheng has worked as assistant director with Edward Yang and Chen Kuo-Fu. In 1999, he made the critically acclaimed debut feature About July. His second feature, Cape No. 7 is the highest-grossing Taiwanese film and picked up several prizes at the Golden Horse Awards. The huge success of Cape No. 7 helped him realize the project he has been wanted to do most- Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale in 2011, which was awarded Best Picture at the Golden Horse Awards. His recently directed film is a musical romance 52 Hz, I Love You which was released in 2017.

Filmography
2017 52Hz, I Love You
2011 Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale
2008 Cape No. 7
1999 About July