Taiwanese film premieres at Edinburgh film festival
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On 26 June, Taiwanese drama film The Receptionist made its international premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The film tells the story of a recent Taiwanese graduate living in London who struggles to find work and stands on the edge of the sex industry and criminal underworld. Known only as Tina, the protagonist begins working as a receptionist in an illegal massage parlour and comes to know other women working there, as well as their dire predicaments.
Though the scenes are fictionalised, they are all based on the actual story of a friend of the director, Jenny Lu. With an undercurrent of danger always lurking, The Receptionist paints a candid picture of a hidden Britain and the horrifying treatment that the women endure, as well as a very human story of friendship and shared experiences.
The film’s director, Jenny Lu, made her international debut when her first film, The Man Who Walked on the Moon (2014), won Best Fantasy Award in Amsterdam International Film Festival in 2015. In 2014, she was selected for Edinburgh International Film Festival Talent Lab, and her script for The Receptionist won the Best Screenplay Award in Taiwan.
