We are pleased to announce the 13th edition of the Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival (TIEFF) to be held in Taipei from 16 – 20 October 2025. Founded in 2001, TIEFF is the longest running ethnographic film festival in Asia. For nearly 25 years, we have showcased outstanding ethnographic films from Taiwan and around the world, introducing the Taiwanese public to a wide variety of anthropological topics while highlighting the contributions of film as a medium. By moving ethnography off of the page and onto the screen, the festival seeks both to attract new audiences to the discipline of anthropology as well as to push the boundaries of ethnography. In addition to the main festival in Taipei, TIEFF also sponsors a touring festival in which we bring a portion of the selected films to communities and campuses across Taiwan.
TIEFF takes a flexible stand regarding what counts as an ethnographic film. We present documentary films (and occasionally more experimental genres or ethnofictions) that portray communities in a culturally sensitive and historically contextualized way. We showcase films by both “insider” and “outsider” filmmakers, by established and new directors, journalists, educators, and artists. We seek films which are made in an ethical manner without sensationalizing their subjects. Films that are the product of long-term close collaboration between filmmaker and subject are particularly welcome. TIEFF is especially proud of its commitment to celebrating the vibrancy and resilience of Indigenous cultures and has been one of the most important venues for showcasing the work of both local and international Indigenous filmmakers. We strongly encourage filmmakers from Indigenous and other marginalized communities to submit their work to our festival.
All films submitted to the festival must have been completed between January 2023 and January 2025. While we do occasionally accept fiction films, biographies, sports documentaries, and concert films, such films will only be considered if they are accompanied by a statement regarding their suitability to the festival, especially connection to the festival theme. All festival films go through a highly selective screening process. Films on any topic will be considered, but special consideration will be given to films that match the theme (as described below). The festival does not have a competition or offer prizes or awards.
The theme for the 2025 TIEFF, “Fables of De/Industrialization” invites us to explore the material and mythic qualities of de/industrialization. Through ethnographic films that focus on the fabulous—and often uncanny—experiences of infrastructures, ruin and ruination, and displacement, we hope to trace what Rob Nixon has called the “slow violence” of socio-economic transformation. Slow violence generally operates at a scale that eludes conventional ethnographic observation. However, the more immediate and tangible aspects of industrial development and decline intimate its presence, often through allegory or a kind of resonance. How might ethnographic film examine de/industrialization in ways unafforded by written texts? How can film show the uncanny traces of historical processes? TIEFF especially seeks works that grapple with ongoing processes of loss, grounded in enduring cultural memory, or through acts of refusal. By emphasizing the notion of fables, TIEFF also welcomes ethnographic films that adopt experimental approaches, alongside films that employ close observation in local contexts.
第十三屆台灣國際民族誌影片展 (TIEFF) 將於2025年10月16至20號在台北舉行。本影展創始於2001年,是亞洲歷史最悠久的民族誌影片雙年展。25年來,我們致力推廣來自台灣本土和世界各國的民族誌影片,介紹人類學家所關注的多元議題,與其田野調查研究,呈現了影像作為媒介在民族誌實踐上如何體現文字書寫所無法達到的成果,進而突破民族誌大的界線。在影展主要活動之外,我們也積極拓展新的觀眾群,將精選影片帶往台灣各地社區於校園。
TIEFF對於「民族誌」影片採取較廣義的立場,包含一文化敏感度和歷史脈絡描繪社區或社群的紀錄片(有時兼具實驗、多模態或虛構性),我們尤其歡迎導演與被拍攝的對象長期合作的作品。無論作品是來自於「內部」或「外部」的創作者,知名或新秀導演,專業影像工作者或人類學學者、記者、教育工作者或藝術家,這些創作均必須合乎拍攝倫理而不擅加渲染。TIEFF致力於呈現原住民族文化的生命力,是台灣和世界原住民影像工作者發表作品的最重要平台之一。我們強烈鼓勵原住民影像工作者向本站投片,也非常歡迎其他邊緣出群體影片創作者加入投片的行列。
參展作品必須完成於2023至2025年間。本影展並無設置競賽獎項,題材不限,有審查委員會選片,優先考慮符合本屆影展主題的影片。若為劇情、傳記、運動、音樂或實驗藝術等類型則必須提出符合本影展主題及性質的說明,否則不予以考慮。
本屆影展主題《後/工業傳說》Fables of De/Industrialization聚焦於後/工業的過程。影展策展團希望徵求探討此過程的物質性以及神話性兩個層面的作品。FABLE 具有傳說、寓言、神話以及通話故事的意涵,以後/工業傳說為核心概念,我們希望透過民族誌影片呈現基礎建設、廢墟與流離失所的奇異—而有時讓人難以抓摸—的經驗,並追溯Rob Nixon所提出的「慢暴力」(slow violence) ,即社會經濟變遷所帶來的緩慢但巨規模的壓迫與破壞。慢暴力雖然似乎運作於一種超越傳統民族誌觀察範疇的規模,但其影響在工業發展及衰退過程的各種緊接和具體細節層面顯現,寓言或日常經驗中的共鳴即表露其存在。民族影片如何將後/工業的各種奇特、荒謬和難以言喻的經驗呈現?策展團隊特別尋求探索持多種續性流失與拒絕過程和行動,並扎根於文化記憶的作品。我們以FABLE為核心鼓勵採取實驗性民族誌方法的影片,同時也歡迎細膩地觀察在地情境的作品。
TIEFF is a non-competitive film festival, thus there are no awards or prizes offered.
本影展無競賽獎項。