Chinese director Wang Quanan's (王全安) movie Apart Together kicked off the Berlin Film Festival Thursday last week, but Taiwanese movies have also been garnering attention with varied storylines and unique settings.
The three Taiwanese films screened at the festival were praised by festival director Dieter Kosslick when he met Chen Chih-kuan (陳志寬), head of the Department of Motion Pictures at the Government Information Office, on Thursday. He said that Taiwanese films had performed extremely well at the festival and commended the government for its film subsidy programs.
The subsidies would also help attract overseas talent to Taiwan, Kosslick said.
Tickets to the gangster movie Monga (艋舺), along with the features One Day (有一天) and Au Revoir Taipei (一頁台北), have been in heavy demand.
Monga, directed by Doze Niu (鈕承澤) and starring Mark Chao (趙又廷) and Ethan Ruan (阮經天), has broken domestic box office records. It grossed more than NT$200 million (US$6.2 million) during its first two weeks of release, entitling its producers to hefty government incentives.
Reviewing the film in Berlin, Variety magazine said the film was “the kind of larger-drawn movie that Taiwan should be attempting if its industry is ever to get back on its feet again.”
This wasn't the first time that Taiwanese films have received recognition at the festival.
Taiwanese directors Ang Lee (李安) and Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) have both previously received awards in Berlin.
Taiwanese movies such as Tsai's The Wayward Cloud (天邊一朵雲), God Man Dog (流浪神狗人) by Singing Chen (陳芯宜), Soul of a Demon (蝴蝶) by Chang Tso-chi (張作驥), Drifting Flowers (漂浪青春) by Zero Chou (周美玲), Yang Yang (陽陽) by Cheng Yu-chieh (鄭有傑) and Miao Miao (渺渺) by Cheng Hsiao-tse (程孝澤) have all screened at Berlin in past years.
Based on Taiwan's achievements in film, Kosslick expressed optimism for the future development of the local industry.
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