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.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
RSS