Writer: So your story does have a happy ending.
Adult Pi Patel: Well, that's up to you. 
– Life of Pi

An "open ending" refers to a story without a definitive conclusion, a path leading to an unknown destination. It leaves the literary or dramatic text in suspense, granting the viewer freedom to interpret. This way, the story is not merely a pre-imposed answer template in the traditional viewing experience but rather a two-way dialogue between the viewer and the creator. Just like at the end of Life of Pi, where director Ang Lee posed the question through the protagonist Pi to the writer/viewer beyond the screen: "Which story do you prefer?"

Since last fall, TFAM is transforming its underground space from a traditional "white cube" gallery into a unique art cinema. Through cross-disciplinary curatorial collaborations, we have invited prominent visual artists and filmmakers from Asia and Europe to curate a "mini-film festival" featuring a selection of rare single-channel video works. These include seldom-seen video art, short films, documentaries, art films, experimental films, and animated shorts. Unlike mainstream narrative feature films, these works often lack specific plot direction or strong emotional rendering. Instead, they offer open-ended reflections on contemporary issues and explore various experimental cinematic techniques.

An Open Ending: TFAM Screening Project seeks to expand upon the familiar cinematic/dramatic concept of an "open ending" by presenting a variety of themes and film lists combinations throughout the exhibition period to open up more imaginations and possibilities. This "openness" not only encourages viewers to form their own interpretations but also deconstructs traditional cinematic forms, pays homage to alternative film movements, and challenges conventional definitions of art. In this space, directors and artists craft the narrative, while viewers are invited to define the conclusion.

Organized by Taipei Fine Arts Museum 
Curatorial Team: Cheng-Yi Chien, Hsuan-Chun Tseng, Wood Lin, Alexandre Huang, Huei-Yin Chen, Feng Hsin

Introdction：
NEEDLESS TO SAY　（Screening Date：2025.4.2－6.22）
The earliest moving pictures or films were silent, without recorded sound. In other words, people relied on visual devices to observe and shape their understanding of the world – the film itself needed no words. The act of watching was, in itself, a practice of perception.
Sound became a prerequisite as the film developed, and “speaking” became rampant. However, many creators still focus on perception, presenting nature, environment, space, events, and the poetics and politics within them. In contrast, another creative approach revolves around the collage and appropriation of “archival footage,” where filmmakers deconstruct, experiment with, transform, and reinterpret originally narrative-rich audiovisual materials, creating an entirely different cinematic experience through montage techniques.
This unit can be viewed as a reconstruction of cinematic perception. “Needless to Say” refers to how these works, without relying on explicit verbal expression, evoke endless reverberations through abstract and open narratives, resulting in various open-ended conclusions.

Chantal Akerman｜From the East
J.P. Sniadecki｜The Iron Ministry
Johann Lurf｜★
Huang Hsin-Yao｜A Silent Gaze
Sylvain L'Espérance｜Archeology of Light

Experimental Shorts#1：Makino Takashi
Makino Takashi｜On Generation and Corruption    
Makino Takashi｜Untitled (March 2020 - June 2020)

Experimental Shorts#2：Peter Tscherkassky
Peter Tscherkassky｜L’Arrivée    
Peter Tscherkassky｜Outer Space
Peter Tscherkassky｜Dream Work
Peter Tscherkassky｜The Exquisite Corpus

Experimental Shorts#3：NEEDLESS TO SAY
Concorso di bellezza fra bambini a Torino
Bruce Conner｜Looking for Mushrooms
Bruce Conner｜Crossroads
Alan Berliner｜Everywhere at Once

Imagining the Post-Apocalypse（Screening Date：2025.4.2－6.22）
In film and literary works, the "End of Days" is often depicted through apocalyptic visions and natural disasters, foretelling humanity’s impending extinction. Today, the term "apocalypse" has become synonymous with death and catastrophe. However, in religious texts, "apocalypse" originally meant revelation and disclosure.

What makes the apocalypse a compelling subject is perhaps the way people use objectively existing symbols – verbal and nonverbal – to construct vivid apocalyptic narratives within physical time and space constraints. Apocalyptic narratives are like parables with open endings, attempting to create surreal worlds that mirror our reality through character development, event arrangement, and plot design. As viewers immerse themselves in the narrative context, their personal memories and associations are triggered, piecing together fragmented narrative images into a continuous imaginative vision. They experience a sense of truth that is closer to reality than reality itself. And at the moment of the open-ended conclusion, they reshape their perception of the world as if receiving a revelation.

This unit aims to explore various forms of apocalyptic storytelling through animation’s magical realism. From grand narratives of mythology, politics, history, and urban landscapes to the intimate realms of subconscious thought, dreams, memories, and sensory perception, do these animated apocalyptic narratives, while interpreting disasters, also convey revelations that offer hope? Perhaps, as its Latin etymology suggests, animation, meaning "to give life," allows imagination to connect the here and there, reality and fiction, past and future through its diverse media and expressive techniques.

Marc James Roels, Emma De Swaef｜This Magnificent Cake!
Yamamura Koji｜Dozens of Norths

Animated Shorts #1：Before the End of Days
Boris Labbé｜The Fall
Réka Bucsi｜Symphony no. 42
Paul Driessen｜The End of the World in Four Seasons
Toby Auberg｜Pile
Regina Pessoa｜Tragic Story with Happy Ending
Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby｜When the Day Breaks

Animated Shorts # 2：The world after
Priit Pärn｜Hotel E
Jerzy Kucia｜Across the Field
Fish Wang｜Gold Fish
Jess Lau｜The Fading Piece