FESTIVALS: * Hong Kong Asian Film Festival
* Taiwan Cinema Express
* Victoria Film Festival
* Human Rights Arts and Film Festival
* CAAMFest
* Hawaii International Film Fest SPRING Showcase
* Seattle International Film Festival
* Vancouver Taiwanese Film Festival
* Busan International Film Festival
AWARDS: * Best Documentary Feature, Asian Film Festival of Dallas
* Lucky Cat Award, Asian Summer Film Festival
* Emerging Director Award for Documentary Feature, Asian American International Film Festival
Go Grandriders
Category |
Senior, Social Issues, Sport
Year |
2013
Country |
Taiwan
Running time |
75'
Format |
HD
Production |
CNEX Foundation Limited
Director |
Tien-hao HUA
On average, they are 81 years old but possess dreams only 18-year-olds would have. They would tell you, through life-long experience, “Miracles do happen as long as you continue to dream!”
In Go Grandriders, a group of 17 senior citizens, many of them learn how to ride a motorcycle for the first time, embark on what may be the most daring adventures of their lives: a 13-day-entirely-on-motorcycle tour around the island of Taiwan. Among these 17 Grandriders, two have had cancer, four need hearing aids, five suffer from high blood pressure, eight have coronary disease, and every one of them has symptoms of joint degeneration. However, at the youthful age of 80 plus, they dare to ride on scooters and feel the land they have lived all their lives.
Challenges officially begin when they decide to hop on their scooters: fighting objections from family members, taking driver license test at an old age, aching bodies and every possible poor weather and road conditions along the 1178-kilometer (732-mile) journey. The day prior to the start of the journey, the captain suffers from ulcer and declining red blood cell count, how will he lead these Grandriders to the goal they have aspired to achieve?
The trip brings harrowing escapes (riding on narrow coastal highway with gusty wind and a steep cliff on one side, and intimidating big trucks speeding by on the other), pure exhilaration (including a gleeful romp in the waves when riders reach Taiwan’s beautiful east coast), and somber reflection (as riders recall their youths fighting in the Sino-Japanese War). Defying society’s expectation, the Grandriders’ journey will inspire and delight audiences both young and young at heart.
