Urban Nomad will not hold any film events in 2020

2020, English, General, 中文

COVID-19 made it impossible to hold a film festival in 2020, but the larger reason there is no 2020 Urban Nomad Film Fest is that Urban Nomad is one of the most underfunded film festivals in Taiwan. Due to budget concerns and the risk of a huge financial loss that would permanently kill the festival, we decided not to hold an event in 2020. We hope to be back in 2021, but need to find a more sustainable financial model in order for that to happen.

Urban Nomad’s Music Fest Postponed

2020, English, General, 中文

This is not a happy thing to announce, but due to coronavirus, the 2020 Urban Nomad Freakout Festival will be delayed until later this year. We hope to bring the full festival back in the autumn, and will announce new dates when this becomes possible. Most of the 15 international performers and dozens of Taiwanese performers originally planned for 2020 Urban Nomad have already agreed to join the festival once we can reschedule. So you can expect the same amazing, highly international lineup. Ticket refunds are available. And not everything is cancelled! In April, Urban Nomad will continue to hold two live music events at Revolver and Triangle on April 9 and 10.

Korean bands at Urban Nomad? Oh yes!

2020, General

Three Korean bands will be among the 40 musical acts at this year’s Urban Nomad Freakout Festival, to be held in Taipei April 10-12. The bands are SaaWee, an avant-garde duo of traditional percussion and violin, scuzz blues band Billy Carter, and psychedelic punk group Ego Function Error. Korea has a fantastic, thriving indie music scene, similar in many ways to Taiwan’s, but relatively unknown here. Inviting these three bands to Urban Nomad is an effort to bring some kickass music to our amazing audience, and second to help build up connections between Taiwanese indie music and the awesome stuff happening in Korea. They’re less then a two-hour flight away. There’s no reason we should be strangers. So here are three bands to look forward to at Urban Nomad 2020.

Urban Nomad 1st Lineup Announcement!

2020, General

Urban Nomad announces 16 bands and DJs to play the 2020 Urban Nomad Freakout Festival, coming April 10-12 in Taipei. The festival will feature more than 40 performers in total, including 15 international performers. The festival’s 2020 lineup will focus on “Asia’s Indie Explosion”. So far six live acts are confirmed from Japan, Korea and Indonesia, including Tokyo ska band More the Man, Indonesia rave and music festival veterans Bottlesmoker, and indie bands from Korea.

2020 Urban Nomad Call for Films

2019, 2020, English, General, News, Press Release, 中文

Submissions are now open for the 19th annual Urban Nomad Film Fest, to be held in Taipei in April-May 2020, then later in the year touring programs will take films to other Taiwanese cities. Urban Nomad will hold competitions in two main categories, “Taiwan films” and “Taiwan indie music videos”, with awards including cash prizes and post-production services from a top Taiwan post-production house, Far East Translation Services. There is also a non-competition section for entries from outside Taiwan. Find out how to submit works here.

(中文) 【座談紀錄】閉幕片《愛之船：台灣》

General

(中文) 國民黨政府於1967年開辦「海外青年暑期返國研習團」，一方面宣揚豐富的台灣文化，也希望吸引來自各地的年輕華人支持台灣。原本有政治意味的中文暑期班，卻誤打誤撞成為海外華僑情竇初開，認識另一半的好所在，也成了海外父母為子女牽紅線的媒介。《愛之船：台灣》為本年度閉幕片，導演Valarie Soe親至現場分享拍片幕後。

2019 Urban Nomad Awards: Grand Prize goes to ‘A Bread Factory’; ‘Love Boat: Taiwan’ wins audience choice!

2019, General

The 18th annual Urban Nomad Awards were handed out on May 26, with the Grand Prize handed out to Taiwanese-American director Patrick Wang for his two-part feature film A Bread Factory Parts One and Two, which stars Taiwanese actor and TV host Janet Hsieh. The Audience Choice Award meanwhile went to the festival’s closing film, Love Boat: Taiwan, a documentary by Valerie Soe on soft power and shenanigans at Taiwan’s most famous study exchange program. In 2019, Urban Nomad received around 400 submissions in multiple categories and handed out seven awards worth TWD 80,000 in cash and post-production services. The ceremony took place at the Wonderful Theater in Ximen on the festival’s second-to-last day and put an exclamation on seven weeks of events from April 13 to May 27, which included around 50 screenings, 37 films making Taiwan or Asia premieres, visits by 10 international filmmakers, a 2000-person music festival…