“Different director” Scud was invited to be the featured filmmaker at the Rotterdam Film Festival! Premiere invites macho man to strip and show off his muscles

Reporter Xiao Caiwei/Taipei-Rotterdam connection report

The 53rd Rotterdam International Film Festival kicked off on January 25. One of the highlights of this year’s festival was that director Scud was invited to take part in the “Focus on Filmmakers” section, which featured a special screening of 10 films from his 17-year film career. In order to welcome this glorious moment, he invited 37 actors who have participated in his films to gather in Rotterdam for the first time. The conference confirmed that it broke the record in the history of the film festival and was a rare feat in international film festivals.

Scud started his career in Hong Kong and currently has permanent residence in Taiwan. He is known as the “heterosexual director” for his many large-scale gay films. Receiving the courtesy of the conference this time, he said emotionally: “It is my greatest happiness to be able to bring glory to actors. It would be even better if it can inspire other artists. I will say to everyone: Look at me! Just do it if you think of it. If you believe in yourself, do it to the end.” ;Then, even if no one is watching, God is watching.”

The 2024 Rotterdam Film Festival has arranged a “Focused Filmmaker” section for director Scud, screening his films from 2008’s “City Without Baseball”, “Permanent Residence”, “Amphetamine”, “Love actually…sucks!”, “Voyage”, “Utopians”, “Adonis, aka Thirty Years of Adonis”, to the new film “Plato vs Pasolini”, “Ghosts just want to have fun” and “Naked Nations – Tribe Hong Kong”, a total of 10 movies will be screened for 20 times, and there will be another “Talk: SCUD” “Scud’s special discussion.
During the opening speech on the evening of the 25th, Chairman Vanja Kaludjercic spent five minutes introducing Scud, praising his unique images and artistic creations that must continue, and hoping that his retirement declaration was just a joke. Because Scud had promised the actors to appear on the international stage, he paid for all the air tickets and accommodation expenses out of his own pocket this time, and invited the actors he had worked with to go to the Rotterdam Film Festival to attend the pre-screening and post-screening activities of their respective works.

Before the screening of “Naked Nations – Tribe Hong Kong” on the evening of the 26th, Scud led the actors on stage to say hello, echoing the concept of “Naked Tribe”. He took the lead in stripping off and letting all the hunky actors show off their upper body muscles, which aroused cheers from the audience. Scud said emotionally: “I received the official notice in August, and I have been living in a dream since then. I have always thought, without this retrospective exhibition, would my death be less embarrassing?”
He continued: “Looking back on my journey, I started out as a complete nobody, at least in the international film industry. It took more than ten years to reach this point. I started very late, but at the age of 56, I am still relatively young to be honored. .” He admitted that the biggest reason was persistence. “Anyone else would have given up after the first film failed miserably at the box office. My stubbornness has made me suffer throughout my life, but it has also led to a place where no one has gone.”

The actors and the working team invited a total of 50 people. Scud said that many people were “extremely surprised” when they received the invitation, especially those who had only filmed one film more than ten years ago. They said they would never have imagined that today, some of them would come. It’s mostly because of work.” It’s a spectacle to bring everyone together, but the effort behind it is also very labor-intensive. He revealed that just booking flights and hotels is difficult.
In addition, in the local area, it is also a problem to eat together every day, because there are few restaurants in Rotterdam that can accommodate so many people at once. However, the best thing about the Rotterdam Film Festival is that there are many cinemas within walking distance. The whole city feels like it was designed for the film festival. I believe everyone will have a worthwhile experience.The 37 actors include: Bai Zixuan, Adonis He, Susan Shaw, Amanda Lee, Byron Pang, Adrian Heung, Eric East, Karen Huang, Lina Tsai, Huang Wei Kai, Owen Wu, Tank Liu, Teslin, Bank Chuang, Jason Lee, Pao Jung Jen, Alice Chen, Osman Hung, Winnie Leung, Christepher Wee, Joe, Simon Tam, Beatrice Wong, Stanley Wu, Derek Lai, William Lo, Hong Lau, Rauv, Moe Chin, Daniel Benjamin, Justin Lim, Lew Voon Khong, Leni Adams, Ryo Van Kooten, Katashi, Zhang Zie. Scud also invited Chicago Film Festival founder Michael Kutza, famous photographer Lin Zhijian, Taiwanese film producer Liu Fengqi, and Hong Kong director Qiu Litao, who serves as this year’s jury, to attend the ceremony. Qiu Litao has photographed two of Scud’s works in the past.