Taiwanese Octogenarian Motorcyclists visit Arcadia, Aug 23

Taiwanese senior citizens who average 81 years promote documentary movie ” Go Grandriders”

Commencing August 15, 2013, ten of the original ‘Grandriders’ from Taiwan will be touring California to promote their movie Go Grandriders. In 2007, a group of Taiwanese octogenarians motorcycled around Taiwan to pursue their dreams of seeing their country. With the assistance of the Hondao Senior Citizens Welfare Foundation, they were able to complete the journey covering 730 miles (13 days), in spite of health and weather challenges. Their inspiring journey was captured in the documentary film “Go Grandriders” which broke box office records in 2012 for a documentary film in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The film is scheduled to be shown at the AMC Atlantic Times Square (Monterey Park) on August 23-29.
“One day when you are 80 years old, will you dare to dream?”

With the assistance of Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation, a group of 17 Taiwanese senior citizens whose average age is 81 years old pursued their dream of riding around Taiwan. Despite illness and infirmities, they (often called grandriders) completed a round-island motorcycle tour (13 days, 730 miles) of Taiwan in 2007. Their inspiring journey was captured in the documentary “Go Grandriders” and the film was released and broke the sales records for the highest-selling documentary in both Taiwan and Hong Kong in 2012.

To inspire senior citizens of all nations to live fulfilled and active lives and to shape the public’s perception of aging, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation is bringing 10 Taiwanese grandriders for a 12-day trip to USA starting Aug 15. They, with the assistance of the American riders, will participate in a ride from San Jose to Los Angeles. In addition, a few screenings of the documentary and visits to senior and nursing homes were arranged along their journey
In Los Angeles, plans to visit the City of Arcadia Aug 23, as well as UCLA Medical Center to premiere and to screen of the movie.
The 75-minute documentary shows the infectious determination and inspirational courage of these octogenarians for their larger-than-life dream to tour around their beloved island of Taiwan on scooters despite health obstacles. They successfully accomplished their trip in in November 2007.
Hondao Senior Citizens Welfare Foundation, a non-profit Taiwanese organization founded in 1995 to care and improve the lives of the elderly in Taiwan, is organizing a 12-day charitable tour of 10 original Grandriders, now averaging 86 years old with the oldest Grandrider aged 94. They will ride as passengers with local volunteer motorcyclists along the Pacific coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Along the way, the Grandriders together with the director and producer will visit local nursing homes and senior centers, and will host parties with their fans to promote this uplifting documentary. Their message is loud and clear — to honor all senior citizens in local communities and to reshape society’s perception of aging.
This galvanizing story was first captured in a 3-minute television commercial produced by a Taiwanese bank in 2008. Since then, it has gone viral on YouTube with over 5 million hits worldwide. With the widespread attention captured by the commercial, “Go Grandriders” made its successful national debut in Taiwan in October 2012 and quickly became the highest grossing documentary in the country.
In addition to theaters, the documentary has also been shown at numerous film festivals around the world, including 2012 Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, 2012 Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, 2013 CAAMFest Film Festival in San Francisco, 2013 Seattle International Film Festival, 2013 Victoria Film Festival, and 2013 New York Asian American International Film Festival where the director Hua Tien-hao is nominated for Emerging Director Award For Documentary Feature.

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