The Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony was held on April 3, with the best picture award given to Ten Years, a Hong Kong independent film centering on Hong Kong’s political and social issues since its return to China. The win turned the film into the evening’s focus of attention. Despite China’s efforts to slam and ban the film, Ten Years still claimed Hong Kong’s biggest award. When it was declared the winner, thunderous applause resounded. Producer Andrew Choi said in his acceptance speech, “Thank you, the Hong Kong Film Awards, for having the guts to give this award to us.” He added, “Thank you all, fellow Hong Kongers. Indeed, it is still not too late.”
Ten Years is an amalgam of five vignettes, all of which pose the question, “What will become of Hong Kong in 10 years’ time?” In view of the film’s themes that satirize Hong Kong’s politics and reflect what is currently taking place in Hong Kong’s society, the Chinese government is fairly unnerved and has done its best to curtail the film’s screening.
Surprisingly for China, its ban on the film actually put Ten Years under the spotlight. More and more cinemas began screening it and there were few empty seats. It was even screened in several communities free of charge and received widespread acclaim. The film’s production cost was HK$500,000, but up to the day of the awards it had taken more than HK$6 million at the box office. In their acceptance speeches, the producers said the film was not made to make money or win awards, but to speak out for the citizens of Hong Kong, as it gives a truthful account of the apprehension and fear that has been surrounding today’s Hong Kong society.
Photo courtesy of Joint Entertainment International Inc
照片:佳映娛樂提供
Hong Kong Film Awards chairman Derek Yee, who decided to present the best picture award himself, did so after first quoting former US president Franklin D Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
(Liberty Times, translated by Ethan Zhan)
香港金像獎於四月三日舉行,贏得最佳電影的獨立電影《十年》討論香港回歸中國後的政治與社會議題,成為最大亮點。儘管中國點名批判及施壓,《十年》卻一舉奪得電影最大獎。宣布得獎的當下,現場響起如雷掌聲。該片監製蔡廉明致辭強調:「多謝金像獎夠膽頒這個獎給我們。」更表示:「感謝所有香港人,真的一切為時未晚!」
《十年》由五段故事集結合成,打著「十年後,香港會變成怎麼樣?」的標語,以諷刺香港政治、反映社會現況為主軸,讓中國官方非常忌憚,全力封殺此片。
沒想到中方禁播反使得《十年》成話題之作,多家電影院跟進上映而連場爆滿,更在多個社區免費放映,引起甚大回響。本片以五十萬港幣成本製作,至頒獎典禮當天累計票房已破六百萬港幣。劇組昨致詞提到,這部作品沒有商業和得獎考量,是為了香港市民發聲而生,該片也真實反映了香港當下社會的焦慮與恐懼。
決定親自頒發這獎項的金像獎主席爾冬陞,頒獎前則引用美國前總統羅斯福的名言強調:「我們唯一需要恐懼的,是恐懼本身」。
〔自由時報綜合報導〕
Taiwan wants to lure higher-spending travelers from Southeast Asia as Chinese arrivals dwindle, a shift that could reshape the island’s tourism industry. Despite increasingly fraught relations across the strait, visitors from across Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, are traveling to Taiwan in greater numbers than before the pandemic, first-quarter data from Taiwan’s Tourism Administration show. The number of Thai visitors has risen 12 percent from the same period in 2019, according to the travel body, while Singapore’s is up 10 percent and Malaysia’s has reached pre-COVID levels. Hotel revenues and the number of local travel agencies have returned to where they were
Stalls selling egg-shaped pancakes are often found on the streets or in night markets in Taiwan. These pancakes are cooked using molds to create shapes with the pancake batter. They are delicious traditional snacks with affordable prices. Egg-shaped pancakes are made with only four ingredients: flour, sugar, butter and egg. The recipe was created in the 1950s by a grocery store owner who made a batter using eggs which had broken upon delivery. He cooked it in an iron mold on a gas stove. The idea was quite successful because the finished product was delicious. 雞蛋糕是在台灣的路邊和夜市隨處可見的點心,是將麵糊倒入模具加熱煎成。雞蛋糕的原料只有麵粉、糖、奶油和雞蛋,起源於1950年代,據說是一位雜貨店老闆發明的,他把搬運時弄破的雞蛋做成麵糊,倒在加熱的鐵模中,就成了香甜可口的雞蛋糕。 mold
A: What are some other highlights at the Wimbledon Championships? B: I’m looking forward to Taiwanese tennis queen Hsieh Su-wei’s matches. A: Hsieh has performed amazingly this year, and has even reclaimed the World No. 1 title in women’s doubles since March. B: And she’s a four-time champion at Wimbledon, having won the women’s doubles title in 2013, 2019, 2021 and 2023. A: Let’s hope she can snatch another Grand Slam title. A: 今年的溫布頓錦標賽還有哪些看點呢? B: 台灣球后謝淑薇也很令人期待。 A: 她在今年三月重返女雙世界第一寶座真厲害。 B: 她於2013、2019、2021、2023,四度在溫網女雙奪冠。 A: 希望她在今年也能打出好成績! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Almost everyone who has visited a foreign country on vacation has purchased items to remember their trip. We sometimes buy gifts for others, but just as often, people buy things for themselves. The history of buying items to remember a place or experience stretches back thousands of years. The word “souvenir” comes from French and means “memory.” It entered the English language in the late 1700s as a word for items that remind people of specific places or periods in the past. Of course, the tradition of collecting items from one’s travels goes back much farther than that. Many