Taiwanese documentary film Flight-Exploring the Life of Birds, has won a Gold Award and an Award of Excellence at two US film festivals, Taijiang National Park Headquarters said in a statement on Wednesday.
The film won a Gold Award in the Nature & Wildlife, Film & Video Productions category at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, held from April 23 to 28.
It also won an Award of Excellence in the Nature/Environment/Wildlife Documentary Feature category at the Accolade Global Film Competition.
Photo courtesy of National Taichung Theater
The documentary by director Liao Tung-kun (廖東坤) captured birds flying, foraging, migrating, molting and breeding at Taijiang National Park in Tainan. Birds tend to fly south from the park or stay there for the winter, as it is on one of the bird migration routes and has wetland ecosystems such as salt marshes, fishponds, mangroves, coastal forests and lagoons.
The film took more than two years to make, with every frame being the result of endless waiting and repeated shots, the statement said.
This included the crew disguising themselves under the scorching sun for 13 hours a day for more than four consecutive days in an attempt to film a tern hatching, it added.
In addition, the crew also witnessed the drastic impact of climate change, such as drought and heavy rain, on migratory birds, it said.
“What we can do is to give them better habitats, allowing these migratory guests to have a more serene environment with abundant resources,” Liao said.
According to the headquarters, Taiwan is a hub of bird migration with about 700 bird species logged in the country.
The film recorded more than 400 species of birds in Taijiang National Park alone.
In other news, Taiwanese dancer Hsueh Yu-hsien (薛喻鮮) won first prize for solo choreography and best dancer at the 33rd Spanish Dance and Flamenco Choreography Competition in Madrid on Sunday.
The solo dance work, Laughter and Oblivion (Risa y olvido), portrays everyday life experiences as an unbreakable umbilical cord connecting the soul and the earth, Hsueh said. Hsueh on Facebook thanked Taiwan for being “the umbilical cord of her soul.”
She also thanked her boyfriend Taboeh a oebay tataysi, a Taiwanese indigenous dancer, for being her art director and helping her break free from boundaries on her path to Spanish dance choreography.
She also expressed thanks to her mother, Ho Lian-hua (賀連華), a reputed flamenco performer, for being the strongest supporter and best role model in her artistic career.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and