While killing time on night shifts at a factory casting giant bronze Buddha statues, security guard Pickle and his scavenger friend Belly Button stumble onto their wealthy, philandering boss's illicit dash-cam footage - and through it, a much darker glimpse into the vast gap between Taiwan's rich and poor. That's the premise of The Great Buddha+, Huang Hsin-yao's darkly comic satire, shot almost entirely in stark black-and-white except for the boss's footage, which bursts into lurid colour - a visual conceit that became one of the most talked-about formal choices in recent Taiwanese cinema. The film swept Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards, winning Best New Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Huang's feature debut, and took Best Picture at the Taipei Film Festival, marking his arrival as a major new voice in Asian cinema. Variety called it as savagely satirical as it is gorgeously surreal, while the Harvard Film Archive described it as tender, sardonic and gut-punchingly funny by turns. Asia Cine-Club: The Great Buddha+ (2017) Tuesday, August 18 | Doors: 6PM | Film: 8PM | TicTic, Phnom Penh Free Entry & Popcorn - Arrive early for sofa, bed, or beanbag seating.
