Los Angeles, March 19 (CNA) The best-selling Taiwanese documentary "Go Grandriders" was screened Tuesday at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to a full-house audience, as part of a tour of the United States by the film.
The documentary portrays the story of 17 ailing octogenarians who undertake a 1,178km trip around Taiwan by motorcycle. The documentary follows the group's 13-day journey and the hurdles they face along the way, such as adverse weather and poor health.
The film's 31-year-old director, Howard Hua, and producer Ben Tsiang were present at the UCLA screening.
Hua said he originally planned to produce a 15-minute short, but it morphed into a 90-minute film. What surprised him most was the film, released in October 2012 in Taiwan, broke box office records for a local documentary.
Hua and Tsiang are visiting the United States because the documentary has been selected for the 2013 Asian American Media (CAAM) Fest that runs March 14-24.
Hua and Tsiang were scheduled to travel to New York Wednesday to attend a screening there, and there will be an additional showing of the film in Los Angeles in late April.
One elderly American who came to see the movie said he also likes motorcycle riding but recently gave up due to an injury. He added that seeing the film had inspired him to continue riding.
Also present at the UCLA film screening were Freddie Spencer, three-time World Grand Prix motorcycle champion, and Peter Starr, a producer of the Discovery Channel, who was inspired by the film to organize a group of "American grandriders" who traveled to Taiwan to experience the same adventure in November last year.
(By Oscar Wu and Y.L. Kao)
ENDITEM/J
