Kaohsiung Film Festival
Organized by the Kaohsiung City Information Bureau, the Kaohsiung Film Festival was first held in 2001. In 2003, the Kaohsiung Film Archive took over the organization of the festival. A permanent, full-time film festival office was established in 2010, and the festival is now held every October. It is the only film festival in Taiwan that comprehensively showcases feature films, short films, and XR (extended reality) works, including virtual reality productions. Featuring film-related activities such as screenings, competitions, exhibitions, and appearances by filmmakers, the festival has as mascot the Fireball Man, an iconic figure representing the passionate spirit of southern Taiwan.
In 2007, the festival established an annual theme, pioneering a unique curation style that emphasized fantastical and genre films, giving the Kaohsiung Film Festival its distinctive character. In 2011, an international short film competition was established, inviting submissions from creators worldwide and forming alliances with international film festivals. This is Taiwan's largest international short film competition. In 2012, the film festival inaugurated a film concert series and integrated it with the "Kaohsiung Shoot" grant program, screening world premieres of original short films from Kaohsiung. In 2017, the "Kaohsiung VR FILM LAB" project was launched, which included the first creation of a VR unit, and in 2019, the XR DREAMLAND virtual reality exhibition was established.
"Youth Stuck" is the theme of the 2024 Kaohsiung Film Festival, which explores the universal experiences of feeling lost and struggling to find one's place in the world when growing up. The idea is to explore youth from a younger perspective, fostering new insights and perspectives and showing the diversity of youth. Featuring a curated selection of youth films from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Europe, and beyond, the film festival showcases special programs including "Must-See Classics on the Big Screen", "Boy's Love", "Cult Classics", "Homage to Masters", and "Children's Fantasy World".
