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.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RSS