Directors Yang Hui-min (楊惠閔) and Scott Saulters took the top prizes as the Public Television Service (PTS) yesterday announced the winners of its first Hoklo-language short film competition at a ceremony in Taipei.
The “Bi Tian Iann” (眯電影) contest was organized by PTS Taigi — the PTS’ Hoklo-language channel launched in July last year —the Taipei Film Commission and the Taipei Culture Foundation.
The competition was divided into a professional and an amateur category, and submissions had to be under three minutes, with more than 80 percent of the film’s dialogue in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese).
Photo: CNA
Organizers said they received 193 submissions from Feb. 25 to April 30, with 16 works shortlisted in each category.
Thirteen winners were chosen, including one top-prize winner, two second-prize winners and three third-prize winners for each category, as well as an Internet Choice Award.
Winners of the top prize in both categories received NT$200,000 and NT$100,000 respectively, while the Internet Choice Award, given to the film that received the most online votes last month, won NT$10,000 cash.
PTS chairwoman Chen Yu-hsiu (陳郁秀) told the ceremony that she hoped to continue holding the competition to give young filmmakers more opportunities.
Yang, who won the top prize in the professional category for Yen Ko Chi (掩咯雞), said she was at a low point in her life when she started shooting the film, and it offered her an escape.
This year has forced everyone to slow down, she said, urging people to take this opportunity to spend time alone.
Saulters, who is from Northern Ireland, won the top prize in the amateur category for Wu Yu Tzu (烏魚子), starring actress Patty Zhu (朱宥琳).
Zhu said this was her second time performing in Hoklo.
Yang Kuei-mei (楊貴媚), the celebrity spokeswoman for the competition, and Yeh Tien-lun (葉天倫), who directed the competition’s promotional video, presented the Internet Choice Award to Tainan native Ong Gan-phok (王彥博) for Hing-hok e un-too (幸福e溫度).
In a video of judges’ comments played at the ceremony, film critic Lan Tsu-wei (藍祖蔚) said conveying a story or concept in just three minutes is very difficult.
Lan praised the maturity of the many young filmmakers’ works that were nominated for the awards.
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