Taipei Exchanges（第三十六個故事）

Country  Taiwan
Year  2010
Genre  Drama
Format  Color  / HDCam
Runtime  82 min
Release Date  May 14, 2010  (Taiwan) 
Director HSIAO Ya-Chuan
Cast GWEI Lun-Mei, LIN Zaizai , CHANG Han

  
 
 
 
 

 

Trailer

Synopsis

Doris and her sister Josie start a café that quickly becomes something much more than merely a modest space. The sisters receive housewarming presents from friends after the first day of business and the café becomes cluttered with many useless gifts. While Doris gets overwhelmed by the pile of presents, Josie comes up with the idea of a bartering system in the store. The idea later proves to be beneficial- as people linger in the café looking for things to barter, some of them begin to share personal stories as well. The moods of change and exchange not only captivates Doris, also drives her to go on the journey for her own stories to tell…

Crew

Director / Screenwriter  HSIAO Ya-Chuan

Born in 1967 in Taiwan, Hsiao Ya Chuan graduated from the Fine Art Department of the National Institute of Arts. Hsiao began making short films in 1988 and has been working in advertising since 1994. His first feature-length film, Mirror Image, was selected in the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes in 2001 and won numerous awards. In 2010, Hsiao finished his second feature, Taipei Exchanges.

Filmography

2000 Mirror Image

Executive Producer  HOU Hsiao-Hsien

HOU Hsiao-Hsien, born in 1947, is the most important figure in Taiwan’s New Wave cinema movement, and one of the leading directors in world cinema. His A City of Sadness (1985) was the first Taiwanese film that won the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival, and The Puppetmaster (1993) later won the Jury prize in Cannes. His latest feature The Assassin (2015), won the award for Best Director at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. HOU is also a producer who participated in ZHANG Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern (1991). He has also actively participated in supporting outstanding directors from the younger generation, by serving as the Chairman of the Golden Horse Award and taking on the role as the executive producer for many films made by new directors, such as HSIAO Ya-Chuan’s Mirror Image (2000).

Filmography
2007 Flight of the Red Balloon
1998 Flowers of Shanghai
1993 The Puppetmaster
1989 A City of Sadness

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

I would like to look into the value of ‘goods exchange’, an ancient practice born long before the idea of currency. In fact, this practice never dies out in our history; even in modern society people keep swapping goods one way or another.

There is nothing wrong with currency; it’s a clear and efficient system, one of the greatest inventions of human beings. But since so many people have sung their praise for the system, please allow me here to point out a few shortcomings. For example, if one judges everything by its price, one would become so pragmatic that might be ignorant of other values. This explains why we do not know how to evaluate without price tags.

Cast

GWEI Lun-Mei

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. After Taipei Exchanges, GWEI received critical acclaim and earned her Golden Horse Awards and Asia Pacific Film Festival for Best Actress in 2012.

Filmography
2007  Secret
2002  Blue Gate Crossing

LIN Zaizai

Born in 1990 in Taiwan as LIN Chen-Shi, LIN is a Taiwanese actress who started her career as a model in print ads, TV commercials and music videos. This is her first leading role in feature film work, she subsequently attracts great attention and continued her career with film and television.