Hello again, my fine cinephile friends.

A succession of film festivals are coming up, including the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival (Sept. 10 to 20), the inaugural BOLD (Bold, Older Lesbians & Dykes) Film Festival (Sept. 13) and the Spark Animation 2009 film festival (Sept. 16-20).

Below are two upcoming Asian film festivals, plus a short film competition for filmmakers.

Taiwan film festival

This week, our diligent travel editor Carolyn Ali has been traveling in Taiwan and blogging about things like the Shilin night market in Taipei and Taiwanese fishball soup.

But for those in Vancouver that can't afford the time or money to travel to Taiwan, she also wrote an article in this week's Travel Notes about the TaiwanFest's film festival, which kicks off tonight at Vancity Theatre with Cape No. 7 and runs until Sunday (August 20).

Check out Carolyn's article for an overview of what the festival has to offer.

Singapore Film Night expands

What began as Singapore Film Night last year has expanded to the two-day Vancouver Singapore Film Festival. On September 5 and 6, this year's event will feature four short films and three features. There'll also be a Lion Dance by the UBC Kung Fu Association, musical performances, and Singaporean cuisine to sample.

Reflecting the multicultural mix of Singapore's population, films will include languages such as Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkein, Tamil, and English.

Feature films include Boi Kwong's The Days, about two brothers caught up in streets gang; Royston Tan's 12 Lotus, about a young woman who dreams of being a getai singer; and Jean Yeo's The Leap Years, about a woman who finds the soulmate she'd be searching for—only to find out that he is leaving the country.

There's even an animated short, "Nature on Its Course", by a Vancouver-based Singaporean, Su-An Ng.

Short film award announced

Speaking of short films, one filmmaker will be chosen for the Motion Picture Production Industry Association Short Film Award 2009 to create a short film, up to 10 minutes maximum, that will be shown at the 2010 Whistler Film Festival.

The winner will receive $10,000 cash from the MPPIA with an additional $5,000 cash from BC Film. There'll also be donations of services in-kind, worth up to $10,000, from MMPIA members. The project must be either live action or docudrama (not animation or documentary).

The project must be completed within 12 months, in time for the 2010 Whistler Film Festival.

The deadline for applications is September 25.

For full details and application forms, visit the BC Film Web site.