文∕吳俊輝（台北電影獎短片動畫組遴選委員）

         台北電影獎的劇情短片的競賽，早已呈現百家爭鳴景像，競爭之激烈毫不輸給劇情長片，在過去十年已培養無數優秀導演，如戴立忍與鄭有傑等都是先以短片得獎，再轉而拍攝個人的第一部劇情長片。今年入圍的短片有十一部，我們可以把他們當作是台灣電影現況觀察中極為重要的一部份，也可以從中看到台灣電影未來的發展。

       在這些短片中，我們發現拍過長片的導演就佔了半數，如李啟源、吳米森、姜秀瓊等，這正顯示現今的短片創作絕非只是學生製作的競爭。但反觀學生的製作亦有超越過去的表現，這跟官方的補助與學校的政策有關，新聞局的短片輔導金之外，文建會敘事短片與公視人生劇展的學生短片製作案都讓學生有更多的經費去創作，同時台藝大的教學卓越計畫與世新大學的菲林龍等計畫都結合業界的專業人才與學生共同創作，大大提昇了學生製作的專業度，幾位後起之秀因此展現驚人的實力，如徐漢強以虛擬網路世界為場景的《匿名遊戲》，就是這樣合作下的成果；如游智涵的《百獄》營造荒涼末世的詩意風格，格局比以往學生製作更大。

       也因此我們會在這些短片中看到更多專業演員的表現，許多入圍過金馬獎或得過金鐘獎的演員都加入這些短片的演出，如陸奕靜、陳慕義與張榕容等；萬芳在《時光》中、吳朋奉與黃采儀在《家好月圓》中，以及莫愛芳在《麻糬》中都依然光彩奪目。更重要的是不管是老將，還是新秀，這些導演們都視短片為一種更開放更自由的創作形式，大家都在沒有商業為前提下尋找各種敘事的可能性，來自跨界背景的周東彥在《待消失的影片》中，持續以投影探索影像與敘事多重的關係；《時光》、《秘密海》與《百獄》遊走在現實、記憶與夢境之中，引領觀眾不斷穿梭在虛實之間；《匿名遊戲》與《宇宙歌女》形塑一個個奇幻的混血新品種。然而我們依然會被《家好月圓》、《麻糬》與《台北異想之煙》所深刻描繪的家庭關係的變形所震動。《台北異想之煙》的一鏡到底，令人沉潛回味電影最純粹的狀態。

New Freedoms: Narrative Shorts in the Taipei Award

The Taipei Award for narrative short films has been a major force cultivating short films in Taiwan. Since its inception, the award has established itself as a launching pad for young directors, including Cheng Yu-chieh, who has gone on to direct the Opening Film of this year’s TaipeiFF, Yang Yang, and Dai Li-ren.

Of the 11 short films in the 2009 Narrative Shorts program, we find both veteran directors like Wu Mi-sen, Lee Chi-yuarn and Chiang Hsiu-chiung and a new pool of student directors making their festival debuts.

Thanks in part to increased funding opportunities, student shorts have this year exceeded already growing expectations. Funding opportunities for student films are no longer limited to grants from the Government Information Office, the national agency for overseeing Taiwan’s national media. The Council of Cultural Affairs (another agency of the central government) and the Public Television System also offer funding opportunities. Meanwhile, programs at universities including Taiwan National University of the Arts and Shih Hsin University allow students to collaborate with film industry professionals, from cameramen and technicians to name actors. The overall effect has been a remarkable improvement in student films. Two of the chief beneficiaries in this section are John Hsu’s Intoxicant, a spoof on Internet chat rooms, and Yo Jhi-han’s Nirvana, a post-apocalyptic tale of loss and reconciliation.

Collaboration with actors is especially apparent in this year’s field of short film prize nominees. Several actors who have long become familiar faces from appearances in feature films in Taiwan’s oldest and largest film festival, the Golden Horse Film Festival, and the national television awards, the Golden Bell Awards, take leading roles. The Light in Time features Wan Fang, With or Without You features Wu Peng-feng and Huang Cai-yi, and Mochi featues Mo Ai-fang, all of whom deliver shining performances.

Subjects addressed range from family drama (With or Without You, Mochi and Smoke) to surreal explorations of memory and dreamspace (Nirvana, The Light in Time and Secret Sea) to fantastical genre hybrids (Intoxicant and Diva Diva). Also, make sure to watch out for one scene in Smoke. It will strike you with a kind of filmic purity that will help you remember what movies are all about.