The Ministry of Culture has announced that Burmese-Taiwanese director Midi Z’s film “Ice Poison” will represent Taiwan to vie for Best Foreign Language Film at next year’s Academy Awards.

The film, shot in Myanmar, charts the economic despair in the rural and developing parts of the South Asian country.

It centers on a poor farmer who is lured into selling crystal meth, called “ice poison” in Chinese.

The juries said they selected the film because it, in a way close to a documentary, portrays realistically the sadness of the Burmese people and Taiwanese expatriates and the touching humanity they display in a poor environment.”

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee recently watched “Ice Poison” at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and was full of praise for the film.

Lee says “Ice Poison” has inherited the aesthetic style of Taiwan’s New Wave school of film yet uses the linear narrative structure of the world’s mainstream film.

The film is Midi Z’s third feature film, after “Return to Burma” and “Poor Folk.”

 

More in Related News

Berlin Film Review: Ice Poison Variety, Feb. 8th, 2014

Midi Z wins in two European film fests Taipei Times, June 29th, 2014