Golden Horse Award-winning director Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) was on Wednesday made an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French government for his contribution to the development of cultural cooperation between France and Taiwan in the field of cinema.
Tsai was honored at a ceremony at the Bureau Francais de Taipei and received his insignia from bureau director Oliver Richard.
“When people saw the movie The Arrival of a Train at La Coitat Station directed by the Lumiere brothers, they were afraid and scattered everywhere,” Tsai said in his speech.
Photo provided by Yuanzi
“For some reason I jumped on this train, not knowing where I wanted to go. I could only imagine that it would take me somewhere wonderful. The train was moving neither fast nor slowly and swung from side to side, leaving behind white smoke. But I enjoy the ride very much,” he said.
Tsai thanked the French government for its “embrace and acceptance” and viewed his strong ties with France with “tears of happiness.”
Established by the French minister of culture in 1957, the Order of Arts and Letters has been awarded to many individuals from around the world who have made significant contributions in the fields of art and literature.
The order has three levels: knight, officer and the top level of commander.
Aside from Tsai, Hong Kong director Johnnie To (杜琪峰) and producer Shi Nansun (施南生) are two other Asian filmmakers who have been recognized with this honor.
Tsai was made a knight in the Order of Arts and Letters in 2004.
All the feature-length movies directed by Tsai have been shown in French movie theaters.
Born in Malaysia, Tsai is known as one of the “Second New Wave” film directors of Taiwanese cinema.
Among Tsai’s features, the 1994 film Vive L’Amore (愛情萬歲) won three Golden Horse Awards and a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The River (河流), released in 1997, won a Silver Bear-Special Jury Prize at the 47th Berlin Film Festival.
Tsai also received the FIPRESCI Prize during the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for his film The Hole (洞).
Tsai directed the 2009 film Face (臉), a joint Taiwanese/French production. It was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes in 2009.
Last year, Tsai also obtained a Golden Horse Award for best director for his film Stray Dogs (郊遊).
Starting on Aug. 29, Stray dogs is to be shown for two months at the National Taipei University of Education.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to