A Taiwanese movie about children and preteens with cancer is being shown in the US and Canada.
BIG, which is directed by Wei Te-sheng (魏德聖) and is about children living in a Taiwanese pediatric oncology ward who move into Room 816, or “BIG,” as they call it, began its North American tour on Thursday last week as part of the sixth North America Taiwanese Film Tour Festival.
In partnership with Canada’s Pride Asian Film Festival and the Taiwan Film Festival in Toronto (TFFT), BIG is to be screened in 27 cities this month and next month.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Film Festival in Toronto
The film’s first stop was in Southern California where it was first played in Thousand Oaks on Friday last week, followed by Monrovia and San Diego on Saturday.
The film was on Sunday screened in Houston, Texas, and it is tomorrow to be screened in Atlanta, Georgia.
During each screening, director Wei interacts with audience members to give additional insight into the movie and his creative process.
BIG was written and directed by Wei, who is often credited with reviving Taiwan’s film industry with his breakout rom-com Cape No. 7 (海角七號) and the two-part historical blockbuster Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (賽德克巴萊).
Wei said he was inspired to venture into a different genre after he met an amputee a few years ago.
They had bone cancer, but remained optimistic about life, which inspired Wei, he said.
Cutting between animation and live action, BIG first hit screens across Taiwan on Dec. 1 last year.
Although it initially failed to win big at the box office, the film went on to amass a following among fans and supporters who resonated with the topic.
Fans of the film helped BIG establish a reputation among non-profit groups and also religious, medical, and educational institutions, leading to a record number of screenings in Taiwan.
The film had earned more than NT$40 million (US$1.27 million) domestically by last month, following the screening successes.
The movie features actors such as Hsia Yu-tung (夏宇童), Chen Po-cheng (陳博正) and Van Fan (范逸臣), as well as Taiwanese-American actor Andrew Chau (周厚安) and Japanese actress Chie Tanaka.
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
EYE ON MAYORS: The DPP would file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of reports of abuse at a preschool in the city The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday. A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother. Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors. The