We are happy to announce Hong Kong Canadian singer-songwriter Ellen Loo as this year‘s Festival Ambassador.
Ellen Loo was just awarded with the prize for Best Arrangement at this year‘s Golden Melody Awards, where she came out giving special thanks to her wife. Her setting such a proud example at a time when same sex marriage in Taiwan is just around the corner moves us deeply.
In her songs, Ellen addresses issues like teenage suicides or the phasing-out of nuclear power in Taiwan, supporting the causes of marginalized voices from all walks of life. In pushing these agendas with unswerving determination, her voice and the one of WMWFF naturally come together as one.
In the view of Ellen‘s courage to openly stand by her own personality, we can‘t help being reminded of this year‘s opening film‘s subject and Mexican national treasure Chavela Vargas. Ellen Loo has also gone through darker phases before. For the sake of achieving the highest honors of her profession, she had to bear with all kinds of expectations and pressures from the outside world. She spent four years fighting inner battles and slowly calming down the upheaval inside herself. Now she understands to dance with these feelings, raving in peace. She has reconciled with the world and herself.
We are sincerely grateful to Ellen for her willingness to travel to Taiwan from overseas and join us as Festival Ambassador to push WMWFF’s cause. We hope that her example encourages all of you, our audience and other attendees, to make peace with your imperfections.
