Age of Anxiety: Malaysian Film Festival in Taiwan

【焦慮的年代：馬來西亞影展在台灣】

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日期：2019.04.26 - 2019.04.28 （星期五、六、日）

地點：交大人文電影館，國立交通大學，人社二館3樓

主辦單位：交大文化研究國際中心

聯辦單位：交大外國語文學系

顧問：林建國、劉紀蕙

策展人：蘇穎欣、謝鎮逸、雷智宇（Zikri Rahman）

**入場免費**

在當代馬來西亞電影中，「焦慮」的主題時時出現。在這個年代，沒人能擺脫焦慮感。夾雜在公民與棄民、族群與他者、傳統與現代、信仰與非信仰、性別與國家之間，各種游移不安的身份，導致焦慮無時不存在。人們害怕失去控制，害怕失去權利、身份、語言與地位；也有人害怕失去一席之地、生存意志或是一個可想像的未來。這些不確定的威脅，如同四處冒出氾濫的鬼魅，以至於馬來西亞人最愛的恐怖驚悚片，也成為時代焦慮的暗喻。

首相馬哈迪（當他還是前任首相的時候）曾抱怨恐怖電影阻礙現代社會的進步與發展，呼籲馬來西亞人以更科學的方式解決問題，不要沉浸於迷信落後的思維。科學、現代化、發展主義，是馬哈迪領導國家建設的方向。恐怖靈異電影就恰恰挑戰了這樣的線性發展思維。

糾結在本土傳統文化、靈異信仰和混亂時空，錯置在現代性與發展論述，不同的電影在懸念、興奮、刺激、焦慮之間，尋找擠壓在夾層中的聲音，不斷扣問如此意識形態掛帥下的各種馬來西亞生活形態。

「焦慮的年代」這個離散到台灣的馬來西亞影展，穿越地理、國族和語言疆界，扣連馬來西亞電影與華語電影場域，揭開當代馬來西亞文化的複雜問題。八部各類型的當代馬來西亞電影，四位焦點馬來西亞導演映後座談，多場電影學者、影評人的深度演講與論壇，讓我們一起思考「焦慮的年代」影展背後折射出當代馬來西亞的種種難題，探討藝術介入社會的可能與方式。

出席導演：Namron、Shanjhey Kumar Perumal、陳翠梅、蔡明亮、區秀詒

出席學者：Norman Yusoff、邱玉清、張錦忠、林建國、劉紀蕙、賈元鵬

Age of Anxiety: Malaysian Film Festival in Taiwan

Dates: 26, 27, 28th April 2019 (Fri, Sat, Sun)

Location: Film Studies Center Theater, 3rd Floor, HA Building 2, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu

Organizer: International Center for Cultural Studies, NCTU

Co-organizer: Department of Foreign Languages & Literature, NCTU

Advisors: Lim Kien Ket, Joyce C.H. Liu

Curators: Show Ying Xin, Seah Jenn Yi, Zikri Rahman

**Free Admission**

In contemporary Malaysian cinema, themes about “anxiety” appear time and again. Embroiled in the wavering identity between citizens and the abandoned, race and the Other, tradition and modernity, beliefs and non-beliefs, gender and nation, no one can escape from anxiety in this age. There are people anxious about losing control, their rights, identity, language or positions; there are also people anxious about losing a place to live, a will to survive, or a future to imagine. These uncertain threats, like the wandering ghosts, continue to haunt the society, thus making the horror/thriller films –Malaysians’ favorite genre—a metaphor in the age of anxiety.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (when he was still the “former” prime minister) once complained that horror films hinder the progress and development of a modern nation. He further called on Malaysians to find more scientific ways to solve problems, but not indulging in superstitious, backward thinking. Dr. Mahathir led the nation with a commitment to science, modernization, and developmentalism, but horror films have precisely challenged this kind of linear development.

Local traditional cultures, spiritual beliefs, and deranged time-space are misplaced in the discourse of modernity and developmentalism. Different genres of films seek to unveil voices in the interstices, making an inquiry about the forms of living under such ideological trend, and thus arousing the emotions of suspense, agitation, excitement and anxiety.

“Age of Anxiety” is a diasporic Malaysian film festival that takes place in Taiwan. It goes beyond geographical, national and linguistic boundaries, hoping to connect Malaysian and Sinophone/Chinese cinema, uncovering the questions of cultural complexities in contemporary Malaysia. The film festival covers over 8 contemporary Malaysian feature films in different genres, post-screening discussions with 4 Malaysian directors, as well as panel discussions and lectures by film critics and scholars. Together we reflect on the various challenges in contemporary Malaysia and the possibilities and ways of intervening society through the arts.

Directors: Namron, Shanjhey Kumar Perumal, Tan Chui Mui, Tsai Ming Liang, Au Sow Yee

Scholars: Norman Yusoff, Khoo Gaik Cheng, Tee Kim Tong, Lim Kien Ket, Joyce C.H. Liu, Earl Jackson