Monga (艋舺), the Taiwanese gangster movie that depicts the evolution of Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), will receive at least NT$40 million (US$1.3 million) in subsidies from the government in recognition of the movie’s remarkable performance at the box office.
Monga grossed more than NT$200 million at the box office during its first two weeks of release in Taiwan, entitling its producers to hefty incentives, said Chen Chih-kuan (陳志寬), director of the Government Information Office’s (GIO’s) Department of Motion Pictures, at a GIO reception in Berlin.
Chen said that under the government’s program of special incentives for the film industry, any locally produced movie with box office receipts exceeding NT$50 million entitles its makers to receive 20 percent of its revenues as a subsidy for the company’s next production.
Taiwan is also encouraging international movie producers to shoot their films in Taiwan, he said, noting that subsidies for such projects can reach as high as 30 percent of the production costs.
The GIO office in Berlin held a “Taiwan Night” on Tuesday evening to introduce members of Taiwan’s delegation at the Feb. 11 to Feb. 21 Berlin International Film Festival to cultural and entertainment circles.
The actors playing the leading roles in Monga, Mark Chao (趙又廷) and Ethan Ruan (阮經天), were among the guests at the party, which was attended by film industry people from all over the world.
In other film news, Formosa Betrayed, a story about political intrigue and murder during the White Terror era, will open in selected cities in the US on Feb. 26.
The movie tells the fictional story of the murder of a Taiwanese-American professor on US soil, and is based on the deaths of two real-life people.
Chen Wen-chen (陳文成), a Carnegie Mellon University professor and critic of the Taiwan government, died under suspicious circumstances during a visit to Taiwan in 1981.
Journalist Henry Liu (劉宜良), whose pen name was Jiang Nan (江南), was killed by gangsters allegedly working for Taiwanese government security forces in Daly City, California, in 1984, after he wrote an unflattering biography of former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), the son of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
James Van Der Beek, of Dawson’s Creek fame, stars as an FBI agent investigating the murder.
Financiers of the film, largely from the Taiwanese-American community, hope the movie can give US audiences a different perspective on Taiwan.
“The only thing a lot of people know about Taiwan is, ‘Made in Taiwan.’ They don’t know the story behind it — the suffering and willpower of the people to form a democracy,” one of the financiers said in an interview with the Silicon Valley Mercury News.
The film’s makers are also negotiating a Taiwan release for the film sometime later this year.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said
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