Art and Entertainment

Bon Jovi’s second Taipei concert also canceled over typhoon (update)

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/29
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Sept. 28 (CNA) After suffering an emotional roller coaster ride on Monday, fans of 201509290001t0001Bon Jovi were presented with the worst possible news — the rock band’s second concert in Taipei has also been canceled because of Typhoon Dujuan.

On its Facebook page, concert promoter Live Nation Taiwan said it is “with deep regret” that it is announcing the cancellation of the show.

“There are no words to express how sad we are,” it wrote.

The announcement came less than two hours after the Taipei city government said offices and schools will be closed throughout the day on Tuesday. The city government said earlier Monday that offices and schools will only be closed Tuesday morning, giving fans the hope that the Tuesday concert will continue as planned.     [FULL  STORY]

Bon Jovi’s Taipei concert on Monday canceled due to typhoon

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/27
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Sept. 27 (CNA) American music legend Bon Jovi arrived in Taiwan for the first time 201509270030t0001in 20 years on Sunday, only to find that the first of its two concerts in Taipei has been called off due to a typhoon.

Live Nation Taiwan, the local promoter of the concerts, announced Sunday night that the rock band’s concert at the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall on Monday has been canceled because of Typhoon Dujuan, which is expected to make landfall on northern Taiwan Monday night.

The concert on Tuesday will proceed as scheduled at the Nangang Exhibition Hall, Live Nation Taiwan said.

Those who purchased tickets to the Monday concert can try to exchange their tickets for ones to the Tuesday concert, or get a refund, it said.     [FULL  STORY]

Tickets for Madonna’s Taiwan concert sell out in minutes

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-27
By: CNA

Tickets for Madonna’s first ever concert in Taiwan went on sale on Saturday and were

Madonna performs at New York's Madison Square Garden, Sept. 16. (Photo/CFP)

Madonna performs at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Sept. 16. (Photo/CFP)

snatched up within 15 minutes, Live Nation Taiwan, the promoter of the concert, said that day.

The around 10,000 tickets to the concert at the Taipei Arena on Feb. 4 next year were sold in three phases. Some of them were open for purchase to Madonna fan club members on Sept. 17 and to credit card holders from Sept. 21-23.

The rest went on sale at 11am on Saturday. Ticket prices ranged from NT$800 (US$24) to NT$16,800 (US$500), with VIP packages sold at NT$30,000 (US$900) for seated fans and NT$27,000 (US$815) for standing groups.

The concert is part of Madonna’s 10th worldwide concert tour, the Rebel Heart Tour. It is the first time that the singer will hold a concert in Taiwan.

The tour follows the March 6 release of her album Rebel Heart. It began on Sept. 9 in Canada and takes her to Europe and Asia, with the tour concluding on March 27, 2016 in Brisbane, Australia.     [FULL  STORY]

‘The Way We Were’ wins Golden Bell for best TV series (update)

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/27
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) “The Way We Were” (16個夏天), a 16-episode series about a love 201509270004t0001story that spans 16 summers, won the 50th Golden Bell Awards for best television series Saturday in Taipei.

Presented by TVBS Inc., the romance drama series centers on the fate of a girl and a boy from the summer of 1998. The pair met in college and went on to marry different people, but fate keeps bringing them back to each other.

The series was praised for using character modeling, transformation of Taiwan’s landscape and changes in characters’ personalities to show 16 years of changes in the Taiwanese society.

“Thank you judges for your affirmation,” Ruby Lin (林心如), the co-producer and female lead of the TV series, said in her acceptance speech.     [FULL  STORY]

Movie review: Wawa No Cidal

This heartfelt drama illuminates many of the complex issues faced by Taiwan’s Aboriginal communities

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 25, 2015
By: Ho Yi  /  Staff reporter

There is nothing fancy about Wawa No Cidal (太陽的孩子). It tells the straightforward story

Wawa No Cidal features a cast of mostly amateur actors who pull off genuine performances. Photo courtesy of Activator Marketing

Wawa No Cidal features a cast of mostly amateur actors who pull off genuine performances. Photo courtesy of Activator Marketing

of an Amis woman trying to re-cultivate the farmland in her ancestral village. As simple as the production is, the film is also one of the most genuine and sincere works of filmmaking that have come out this year. Directing duo Cheng Yu-chieh (鄭有傑) and Lekal Sumi turn their lens to an Amis village on Taiwan’s east coast, creating a heartfelt human drama tackling the issues that are very close to the heart of anyone who is concerned with what has happened to the country’s indigenous communities.

The film begins with Panay, played by Amis musician and TV host Ado Kaliting Pacidal, returning home to the Amis community Makutaay in Hualien County. Like most villagers, Panay works in the city, leaving her daughter Nakaw (Dongi Kacaw) and son Sera (Rahic Gulas) in the care of her father, played by village elder Kaco Lekal.

Her father’s recently diagnosed cancer, however, forces Panay to rethink her priorities. She quits her job and moves back to the village to care for her family. But she soon finds out that her home is not what it used to be.     [FULL  STORY]

Jay Chou sues Weibo user who called him ‘traitor’

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-21
By: Wu Kuan-chin and Staff Reporter

Taiwanese pop star and actor Jay Chou has filed a lawsuit demanding total damages of

Jay Chou. (Photo coutesy of The Voice of China)

Jay Chou. (Photo coutesy of The Voice of China)

600,000 yuan (US$94,000) from a Weibo user who called him a “Hanjian,” or “traitor to the Chinese race,” reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

The Weibo account of a user with the handle Weixiu Shenghuo posted an article on June 4 calling Chou a “Japanese Hanjian,” also attacking the singer’s family. The article claimed that Jay acknowledged himself as a descendant of Japan.

Chou said the piece has damaged his reputation and is demanding 500,000 yuan (US$78,500) in economic damages and 10,000 yuan (US$15,700) for emotional distress.

JVR Music International, Jay Chou’s record company in Taiwan, confirmed the legal action and said they have addressed the gossip of Jay Chou as a “descendant of Japan.”

Internet users in China have expressed support for Chou’s libel action.

Chou this year also filed a suit against a hotel in China who used his wedding photos for advertising without authorization. A court in Beijing ordered the hotel to pay the singer US$170,000 in early September.     [FULL  STORY]

Prominent Taiwan opera troupe performs in Los Angeles for first time

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/20
By: Oscar Wu and Christie Chen

Los Angeles, Sept. 19 (CNA) Taiwanese opera troupe Ming Hwa Yuan Arts and Cultural

Taiwanese opera troupe Ming Hwa Yuan's first performance in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Taiwanese opera troupe Ming Hwa Yuan’s first performance in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Group gave its first performance in Los Angeles on Saturday to an audience of over 1,000.

Ming Hwa Yuan, one of Taiwan’s most highly regarded opera troupes, performed two pieces — “Lovebird Spears” (鴛鴦槍) and “General of the Empire” (護國將軍) — during its show at the East Los Angeles College.

“Lovebird Spears” is about a teahouse owner’s daughter who is trained in martial arts and will only marry someone who is capable of defeating her using spears.

“General of the Empire” combines traditional opera with Chinese martial arts. The action sequences in the piece were inspired by ancient warfare in China, which involves the use of scaling ladders to climb fortress walls.     [FULL  STORY]

‘Distance’ to Open Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Festival

The festival will close with Taiwan’s supernatural thriller ‘The Tag-Along.’

The Hollywood Reporter
Date: 9/18/2015
By: Karen Chu

Distance, an omnibus drama from award-winning young directors Xin Yukun, Tan Shijie distance13and Sivaroj Kongsakul, will open this year’s Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival on Nov. 5.

Executive produced by Golden Horse, and Cannes Camera d’Or winner Anthony Chen (Ilo Ilo), the film stars Taiwanese actors Chen Bolin (Blue Gate Crossing) and Yo Yang (Formula 17) alongside Hong Kong veteran Paul Chun (The Lunatics). The experimental drama sees Chen play three separate roles in each of three stories, separately helmed by Xin, Tan and Kongsakul. The directors hail, respectively, from China, Singapore and Thailand.

Distance is the first project produced by new Singaporean shingle Giraffe Pictures.

Xin’s debut feature film, The Coffin in the Mountain, premiered at the Venice Critics Week and received two Golden Horse Awards nominations. Kongsakul’s first feature, Eternity, won the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2010. Tan’s short film Not Working Today was awarded the Best Singapore Short at the 25th Singapore International Film Festival.     [FULL  STORY]

Jay Chou sues Chinese for compensation

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-18
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou is suing a Chinese citizen for

Jay Chou sues Chinese for compensation Central News Agency (2015-09-18 21:25:38)

Jay Chou sues Chinese for compensation
Central News Agency (2015-09-18 21:25:38)

600,000 yuan (NT$3 million) in compensation after the person described him online as a traitor, reports said Friday.

Chou has a huge following across Asia and starred in several movies, including the Hollywood production “The Green Hornet” with comedian Seth Rogen and Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz.

According to reports in the Chinese media, an article appeared online in early June describing Chou as a traitor who sold out his country. The pop star denied he was Chinese and insisted he was Taiwanese, while his grandparents were Japanese citizens, the article went on.     [FULL  STORY]

The human condition through film

The year-end film festival season begins with two events set to open tomorrow in Taipei City

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 17, 2015
By: Ho Yi  /  Staff reporter

The global undercurrents of angst and collective fear are the motifs of two film events set

Verena Kyselka, The Formosa Experiment. Photo courtesy of Spot — Taipei Film House and CNEX Foundation

Verena Kyselka, The Formosa Experiment. Photo courtesy of Spot — Taipei Film House and CNEX Foundation

to open tomorrow. The 2015 Taipei Documentary Film Festival (2015國際華人紀錄片影展) responds to challenges and problems relevant to our daily lives with 38 works addressing a broad range of environmental and social issues. On the Road Film Festival (在路上影展) takes its cue from Jack Kerouac’s defining novel of the Beat Generation, On the Road, to look at the human condition with a more existential and literary approach through a daring, compact lineup of 21 feature, documentary, experimental and short films.

TAIPEI DOCUMENTARY FILM FEST

Restless Mind of Turbulent Years (忐忑流年) is the theme for the documentary film fest and emphasizes marginalized people in cities. The festival is organized by Chinese Next, or CNEXT, a nonprofit that disperses money to aspiring documentary filmmakers in Chinese-speaking regions.

A Tale of Waste City (廢城記) transports audiences to a makeshift community built from waste by urban scavengers in Beijing. The city is located three kilometers from the National Stadium and is home to over 30,000 workers and their families who hail from China’s Henan Province. Life is tough but carries on — until, that is, the residents are told that the community is soon to be demolished.     [FULL  STORY]