The 2012 Taiwan International Children’s Film Festival starts its nationwide tour today with a diverse lineup of 54 feature, animated, documentary and short films, as well as television programs from 22 countries.
Initiated in 2004 by the Public Television Service (PTS), the biennial film showcase opened in Taipei in April, attracting 30,000 people, according to PTS’ director of public services and marketing Teresa Chiang (江行德).
“For each edition, we always make a selection of some of the best movies shown in Taipei and take them on tour across the country so that children living outside the capital can have a chance to see good-quality, international works,” Chiang said yesterday.
The tour, which is funded by the Ministry of Education and Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation, is set to travel through every city and county in Taiwan until Aug. 31. All screenings are free and suitable for children aged under 12.
This year’s theme for the festival is “fear and courage” and deals with the obstacles and predicaments youngsters face and the ways they find of coping with them. Highlights include Tony 10, a family drama from the Netherlands that explores the impact of divorce on children and The Great Bear, a feature-length animated film from Denmark which tells of a friendship between a little girl and a wild bear.
The event’s spokeswoman, TV celebrity Vicky Chen (陳孝萱), said that engaging in cultural and artistic activities is a learning process for both parents and their children.
“When we read a good book to kids, take them to see a play or a movie, we are educating our children and also ourselves. It’s a mutual learning process,” said Chen, who is also the mother of a six-year-old son.
Apart from film screenings, the PTS will broadcast 17 selected works every Sunday from July 8 to Aug. 26.
For more information, visit www.ticff.org.tw or call (02) 2633-2000.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and