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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by