Photo from the Golden Horse Film Festival Facebook page
Taipei, Aug. 9 (CNA) In the wake of an announcement earlier this week that China will boycott this year's Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, several Hong Kong film companies have followed suit and withdrawn their entries from the prestigious Chinese-language film industry awards, according to reports in the Hong Kong media.
The Chinese government said in a short statement issued on Wednesday that the China Film Administration has suspended mainland films and personnel from participating in the 2019 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.
Although the statement did not directly say individuals from Hong Kong's film industry would not attend the event, several Hong Kong movie production companies have announced they will not participate.
Among the films withdrawn from consideration are White Storms 2, Line Walker 2, Chasing Dragon 2 and the animated film No. 7 Cherry Lane, according to Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao on Friday. [FULL STORY]
Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) Philippine romantic drama film "Hello, Love, Goodbye," which portrays the lives and struggles of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), will be screened in Taiwan on Sunday, according to the production company.
The film will be shown twice at Dynasty Theater in Taipei on Sunday, once at 10 a.m. and once at noon. It will not appear anywhere else in Taiwan.
The movie, directed by Filipino Cathy Garcia-Molina, tells the story of two OFWs in Hong Kong who originally had different goals in life.
They eventually discover new things about themselves, which could affect the plans they have for their respective lives, according to a statement by ABS-CBN Film Productions. [FULL STORY]
What's more attractive to young Taiwanese music talents – South Korea or Taiwan?
The News Lens
Date: 2019/07/17
By: Olivia Han
Photo Credit: Reuters / TPG Images
When South Korea bombarded North Korea with K-pop music broadcasts across its border in 2016, the broadcasts were described as “a peaceful version of the nuclear bomb.” If a country’s entertainment industry is properly invested, it might well be a powerful weapon of influence.
The K in K-pop may stand for Korean, but the music genre has surpassed its niche and reached global status. More K-pop groups, like BTS and Blackpink, are having world tours and songs charting high on the Billboard. When physical CD sales dropped globally, it was the opposite in South Korea; there was an 11-percent increase in CD sales in 2012 due to creative marketing strategies such as adding collectible items like photo cards and a raffle ticket giving fans the chance to attend a meet and greet.
As K-pop is no longer a niche market, many foreigners are heading to Korea to pursue their dreams of stardom. East Asians still make up the majority in the K-pop scene, with more Taiwanese faces on the rise. Whenever a Taiwanese person debuts in Korea, he or she would often make the entertainment media’s headlines being referred to as "Taiwanese pride.”
With K-pop’s tremendous growth potential in the international stage, perhaps more Taiwanese would consider exploring the opportunities of sharpening and showcasing their talent in Korea, where entertainment agencies provide rigorous training as well as the promise of a much larger stage. As of now, the most distinguishable Taiwanese K-pop artists are Amber Liu (劉逸雲), Chou Tzuyu (周子瑜), and Lai Guanlin (賴冠霖). [FULL STORY]
The Formosa Circus Art (FOCA) group from Taiwan specialise in combining the contemporary modern circus arts of Taiwan with acrobatics, theatre arts, and more traditional forms.
India Today
Date: June 29, 2019
By: Antara Raghavan
FOCA acrobats (above and right) demonstrate tough choreographic positions.
ACROBATICS has always been a sport that has fascinated spectators and evoke admiration. It is not only an activity which demonstrates incredible gymnastic feats, but is also a highly demanding discipline which requires skill, years of training, and precise balance and handeye-coordination.
The Formosa Circus Art (FOCA) group from Taiwan more than meets all these exact requirements.
They specialise in combining the contemporary modern circus arts of Taiwan with acrobatics, theatre arts, and more traditional forms. They are well-known in Taiwan and across the globe.
Their current project is the show, The Heart of Asia. This show does not just comprise spectacular gymnastic accomplishments on stage, but the exploration and experimentation of a variety of performance arts. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/29
By: Chiang Pei-ling and William Yen
On the red carpet: (from left) Denise Ho (何韻詩), Shi Shi (孫盛希), Lotus Wang (王彩樺), and Eve Ai (艾怡良)
Taipei, June 29 (CNA) Focus Taiwan will provide a live blog for the 30th Golden Melody Awards (GMA), otherwise known as Taiwan's Grammy Awards on Saturday.
Last Updated: 39 minutes ago
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Golden Melody: Jolin Tsai's 'Ugly Beauty' biggest winner
focustaiwan
Golden Melody: Jolin Tsai's 'Ugly Beauty' biggest winner
Radio Taiwan International
Date: 26 June, 2019
By: Shirley Lin
Photo by Dancing in the Sky dance troupe
Dancing in the Sky dance troupe is the only local contemporary dance group in eastern Taiwan’s Taitung County. Its upcoming work, which translates to “Bach’s Face”, will be a collaboration with pianist Chou Mei-chun, using the music of J.S. Bach. Chou recently released a piano album called “BACH Experience”.
The Dancing in the Sky troupe has been lauded as one of the most outstanding dance groups from Taitung County over 15 consecutive years. Troupe leader Tsai Fu-sung says troupe members have gone through three months of intense training in acting to allow them to express their inner emotions through dance. The troupe will give a single performance of the work each in June, August, and September in Taitung. [SOU9RCE]
Filmmaker Wu De-chuen (left) and paper-cutting artist Johan Cheng spotlight their contribution to the Green Island Human Rights Art Festival running June 15 to Sept. 15 in southeastern Taiwan’s Taitung County. (CNA)
The Green Island Human Rights Art Festival is set to kick off June 15 at the Green Island White Terror Memorial Park in southeastern Taiwan’s Taitung County, shedding light on the lives and sacrifices of those detained at the former political prison.
Organized by the National Human Rights Museum, the three-month festival is themed Visiting No. 15 Liumagou, the former address of the jail. A total of 12 artists and groups have been invited to create new works exploring the history of the site through mediums spanning animation, film installation and modern dance.
Also featured is a June 16 screening of the documentary “Spring: The Story of Hsu Chin-yu” by local director Tseng Wen-chen, as well as 14 seminars and workshops.
Speaking at a news conference June 12, Deputy Culture Minister Hsiao Tsung-huang said the festival aims to deepen awareness and promote reflection on human rights violations during the period of authoritarian rule. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan Date: 2019/06/09 By: Chen Cheng-wei and William Yen
Taipei, June 9 (CNA) Taiwanese actor Ma Ju-lung (馬如龍), known for his acting career of
Taiwanese actor Ma Ju-lung (馬如龍) / CNA file photo
40 years, died of severe infection from a ruptured bowel Sunday at the age of 80.
Ma had been admitted to an intensive care unit of the Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital in Taipei for the infection, the hospital confirmed Wednesday.
In his 40-year career, Ma acted in over 50 Taiwanese drama series and was also known for his role in the 2008 hit movie Cape No. 7 and the 2010 Taiwanese gangster film Monga. [FULL STORY]
New Bloom Magazine Date: May 31, 2019 By Brian Hioe
VALERIE SOE’S Love Boat: Taiwan details the history of an institution well-known among diasporic Taiwanese and particularly Taiwanese-Americans—the Love Boat, officially known as the Overseas Compatriot Youth Formosa Study Tour. Despite how widely known the program is, Love Boat: Taiwanis likely the first attempt to historically document the program.
The tour program, which exists in a scaled-down form even today, provided a monthlong tour of Taiwan for individuals of Taiwanese or Chinese descent born outside of Taiwan or China from 1967 onward. The program was begun by the KMT government during authoritarian times as a way of bolstering cultural claims of being the rightful representative of China, as a means of building what we would term today soft power among young diasporic Taiwanese or Chinese. However, the tour acquired its name of Love Boat because of the culture of hook-ups, dating, and wild partying which developed out of participants in the program.
Indeed, director Valerie Soe was herself a participant in the program, hence her interest in revisiting the program many years later. Soe’s documentary benefits not only from her firsthand experiences at Love Boat, with Soe featuring in the film herself, but a wide range of interviews with Love Boat participants—all the way back to a surviving participant of the first generation of Love Boat, and to as recently as participants in Love Boat in 2013, when a public incident caused by students led to a scaling down of the program. [FULL STORY]
Patrick Wang’s epic two-parter ‘A Bread Factory’ has its Taiwan premiere at 2019 Urban Nomad Film Festival and is a compelling story for our times.
The News Lens Date: 2019/05/16 By: Cat Thomas
Credit: In the Family LLC
Back in 2011 a review of Patrick Wang’s first film “In the Family” in the New York Times closed with the tip: This is a career to keep an eye on. Fast forward to late 2018 and his latest offering – which has its Taiwan premiere(s) this weekend at The Urban Nomad Film Festival – was included in over forty Best of 2018 lists with critics from RogerEbert.com, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Vogue among those championing the film and the New York Times coming full-circle by declaring “A Bread Factory” “a major work by a singular American artist.”
With the project split into two complementary films running at close to two hours apiece, prospective viewers might be concerned that Wang has overdone it, stretching out a story, however the two parts, while both following events in the fictional town of Checkford, are markedly different and the time taken to deeply explore the multiple themes is well spent and brilliantly performed by a cast which includes Tyne Daly (“Spiderman: Homecoming,” “Cagney & Lacy”) as arts educator Dorothea, and James Marsters (“Hawaii Five-O,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) as a celebrity actor, as well as Taiwan media darling Janet Hsieh (former host of Taiwan Fun) and her husband George Young as two upstart China-funded performance artists, May and Ray.
Through the lens of a small New York State town, Wang manages to dive deep into the issues, habits and behaviors that many of us engage in perhaps unwittingly, and raises many questions about the choices we make and the long-term effects on our society with a particular reference to, but not limited to, arts education and social media. [FULL STORY]
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