Ghosted (ai-mei)

placeholder

GHOSTED is the haunting story of an unusual love affair bridging two cultures and two cities: The sudden death in unexplained circumstances of her young Taiwanese lover, Ai-ling, throws Hamburg artist Sophie Schmitt completely off kilter. She travels to Taipei to exhibit a video installation dedicated to Ai-ling. On the opening night, Sophie is approached by a pushy journalist, Mei-li, who takes her on a trip to the famous Taipei night markets and attempts to seduce the grieving artist. But Sophie rejects her and returns to Hamburg. Shortly thereafter, Mei-li turns up unannounced on Sophie's doorstep. Soon, Sophie realises that Mei-li is secretly investigating Ai-ling's death. Sophie is unsettled by a series of events and sudden flashbacks. Then she discovers that the Taiwanese newspaper that Mei-Li claims to work for has never heard of her and that no one with her name has ever entered Germany. Who, then, is this beautiful and mysterious stranger...?
Monika Treut: “In Chinese and Taiwanese cinema spirits of the dead return to take revenge. Women enjoy a freedom in these stories, which traditional suppression had denied them in everyday life. In this in-between world they become the erotic, daring, charming, and ambitious creatures they wanted to be, finally pursuing
their own desires.”

details

  • Runtime

    89 min
  • Country

    Germany, Taiwan
  • Year of Presentation

    2009
  • Year of Production

    2009
  • Director

    Monika Treut
  • Cast

    Inga Busch, Huan-Ru Ke, Ting-Ting Hu, Jana Schulz, Marek Harloff, Jack Kao, Yi-Ching Lu, Kevin Chen, Nick Dong-Sik, Chian-Tze Liu, NaiWen Chang, Rong-Yje Wang, Ru-Yun Tang
  • Production Company

    Hyena Films
  • Berlinale Section

    Panorama
  • Berlinale Category

    Feature Film

Biography Monika Treut

Born in Mönchengladbach, Germany in 1954, she completed a PhD in literature at Marburg in 1984. She began working with video in 1976 and founded Hyena Films with Elfi Mikesch in 1984. Her feature and documentary films have shaped Queer Cinema for over 35 years. The love story Seduction: The Cruel Woman, the sex melodrama Virgin Machine and the comedy My Father is Coming were followed by a series of documentaries including the multi-award-winning trans-futuristic Gendernauts. Her films have featured at the Berlinale 13 times already; in 2017, she received the TEDDY AWARD for her lifetime achievement. She also teaches at universities in California and New York and, since 2018, has been Deputy Professor of Media at the University of Hildesheim.

Filmography Monika Treut

1985 Verführung: Die grausame Frau | 1991 My Father Is Coming | 1992 Dr. Paglia | 1998 Didn't Do It For Love | 2001 Kriegerin des Lichts | 2005 Den Tigerfrauen wachsen Flügel | 2009 Ghosted | 2012 Das Rohe und das Gekochte | 2014 Von Mädchen und Pferden | 2016 Zona Norte