Premier Yu Shyi-kun announced last week the government will provide NT$100 million per film, as a part of a package of policy reform measures to stimulate the ailing film industry.
Beside grants for film production, there is also an amendment on tax incentives for film investment; government loans totalling NT$20 billion to the cultural-content and digital-content industry; and a change of direction for funding priorities.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ARC LIGHT FILMS
Films with foreign investment, or co-produced projects, films using digital technologies, and film directors or producers with remarkable box office track records will be given priority.
After an embarrassing time for Taiwan cinema at Cannes last month, with no Taiwanese film selected for any of the screening sections, compounded by the fact that South Korea and Thailand won awards, it is about time the government gave the film industry a shot in the arm.
"The government will make big efforts to develop the film industry. In the future, films winning awards at major film festivals will receive a grant of up to NT$100 million," Yu said last Wednesday after attending the screening of local documentary Viva Tonal (
Major film festivals, according to Yu, mean the Oscars, Cannes and the Berlin Film Festival. He said the NT$100 million would not be a cash award, but a grant to fund the filmmaker's next film project.
Yu said the government had taken note of the success of other Asian film industries and had decided to act now.
"The film business plays an important role in the cultural industry as a whole. Related culture businesses [TV, games, publishing] will be affected if the film industry sinks," he said.
The government will also encourage investment in films. Yu said that at the beginning of the year, an amendment to the Motion Picture Law (
In March, the Industrial Development Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (經濟部, MOEA) announced it would offer NT$20 billion in loans to the culture and digital content industries, which covers film, animation, games, software and telecommunication businesses.
In addition, the Motion Pictures Department of the Government Information Office (
"With all these measures, we want to make sure that the money enters the pool of the local film industry," said Peggy Chou (
So far, at least one local enterprise has shown interest in helping the local film industry. Telecommunication group BenQ invested over NT$1 million in the NT$35 million budget film Love of May (
Taiwan doesn’t have a lot of railways, but its network has plenty of history. The government-owned entity that last year became the Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) has been operating trains since 1891. During the 1895-1945 period of Japanese rule, the colonial government made huge investments in rail infrastructure. The northern port city of Keelung was connected to Kaohsiung in the south. New lines appeared in Pingtung, Yilan and the Hualien-Taitung region. Railway enthusiasts exploring Taiwan will find plenty to amuse themselves. Taipei will soon gain its second rail-themed museum. Elsewhere there’s a number of endearing branch lines and rolling-stock collections, some
Could Taiwan’s democracy be at risk? There is a lot of apocalyptic commentary right now suggesting that this is the case, but it is always a conspiracy by the other guys — our side is firmly on the side of protecting democracy and always has been, unlike them! The situation is nowhere near that bleak — yet. The concern is that the power struggle between the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and their now effectively pan-blue allies the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) intensifies to the point where democratic functions start to break down. Both
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and the country’s other political groups dare not offend religious groups, says Chen Lih-ming (陳立民), founder of the Taiwan Anti-Religion Alliance (台灣反宗教者聯盟). “It’s the same in other democracies, of course, but because political struggles in Taiwan are extraordinarily fierce, you’ll see candidates visiting several temples each day ahead of elections. That adds impetus to religion here,” says the retired college lecturer. In Japan’s most recent election, the Liberal Democratic Party lost many votes because of its ties to the Unification Church (“the Moonies”). Chen contrasts the progress made by anti-religion movements in
This was not supposed to be an election year. The local media is billing it as the “2025 great recall era” (2025大罷免時代) or the “2025 great recall wave” (2025大罷免潮), with many now just shortening it to “great recall.” As of this writing the number of campaigns that have submitted the requisite one percent of eligible voters signatures in legislative districts is 51 — 35 targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus lawmakers and 16 targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The pan-green side has more as they started earlier. Many recall campaigns are billing themselves as “Winter Bluebirds” after the “Bluebird Action”
RSS