Sinjhuang District (新莊) is to become a hub for Taiwanese cinema, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) told a ceremony yesterday to open the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute’s new base.
With the new facility completed, the city government hopes that a plan to build a cinema museum nearby would start soon, Hou said.
The museum and the institute would make the area a hub for Taiwan’s cinema and audiovisual industry, while introducing a wider audience to Taiwanese movies, he said.
Photo: Chen Yi-chuan, Taipei Times
With the central government’s help, hopefully the plan to build the film hub, which was proposed by previous New Taipei City mayors, would be completed, he said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that the Cabinet last year approved a budget of NT$5.4 billion (US$195.02 million) for the planned 1.6-hectare museum and would provide more if necessary.
“The central government will give its full support” for the project, Su said, adding that the museum would bolster the institute’s film archive.
Photo: CNA
The archive, which consists of about 18,000 film reels and more than 200,000 artifacts, is in rented factory space in the city’s Shulin District (樹林).
Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute president Lan Tsu-wei (藍祖蔚) said that the institute would strive to educate more people on the importance of film archives, which are a testimony of the nation’s history, collective memory and personal stories.
“Preserving the memories of Taiwanese is our responsibility,” Lan said. “We hope to help Taiwanese understand the stories of their fellow citizens and allow the world to better see Taiwan.”
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) lauded the institute’s efforts to preserve and remaster Taiwanese films so that young people and foreigners have a chance to see them.
Tsai said she hopes that the institute would expand its focus from cinema to promoting television and radio work.
The institute is tasked with preserving film archives, conducting research, and promoting Taiwanese film through exhibitions and special screenings.
It had a soft opening of its new facility last year.
The new building is the institute’s first permanent base in the 44 years since it was established.
It has offices, theaters, a film library and exhibition spaces.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we