The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday announced Taiwan’s finalists for the worldwide “Democracy Video Challenge” (DVC).
AIT Director Stephen Young, who presented certificates to the Taiwanese finalists at a news conference, said the AIT launched the contest in Taiwan in October to engage individuals from Taiwan in a global dialogue on democracy.
“The challenge provided an opportunity for dialogue and exchange on the important subject of democracy,” Young said. “Democracy is a fundamental value shared by the people of the US and the people of Taiwan.”
Michael Kau (高英茂), former deputy foreign minister and a senior fellow of event partner Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), said the competition was significant on three levels.
While it demonstrates the US’ soft power in promoting democracy, it also serves as a platform for young people to think about what democracy is, Kau said.
“It also provides a chance for Taiwanese people to think about the nature of our own democracy and in which direction our democratic development should go,” he said.
Announced by the AIT last fall, the DVC is a worldwide competition initiated by the US Department of State that asks budding filmmakers, democracy advocates and the general public to create three-minute YouTube videos that complete the phrase, “Democracy is ....”
Selected by a panel of democracy advocates, film scholars and AIT representatives, the Taiwanese finalists are DBC Jmovie-Democracy, Goldfish, Ocean, Democracy and Democracy.
Lee Chia-hua (李佳樺) and Chang Chia-yun (張佳筠), freshmen at National Taiwan University’s Department of Filmmaking who made Democracy, said that to them, democracy is respecting and listening to others so that everyone can create a better world together.
Lee said that through making the video, she had a deeper understanding of the meaning of democracy, especially when she had to research Taiwanese pro-democracy events.
Asked if the theme of the challenge might be a bit too serious, Chang said democracy did not have to just be a serious topic, but rather an interesting one, depending on the angle from which people approach it.
Seven winning videos — one each from Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe, the Near East and North Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Western Hemisphere, as well as one anonymous video — will be chosen through public voting on YouTube.
They will be eligible for an all-expenses paid trip to the US that includes screenings of their videos in New York, Hollywood and Washington, meetings with film directors, public officials and democracy advocates, and visits to film sets and TV studios.
Yesterday’s awards ceremony was co-hosted by the Taiwanese partners of the DVC, the TFD, the Council for Cultural Affairs, Chinese Taipei Film Archive, Taiwan Film and Culture Association, SPOT Taipei Film House and National Taiwan University of the Arts.
The Taiwanese finalists’ videos can be found at www.videochallenge.america.gov/video.html
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe
RSS