The 2019 Taiwan International Queer Film Festival runs from 8/15 to 8/25 in Taipei and from 8/28 to 9/8 in Kaohsiung. This film review is based on a complimentary media screening.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/08/15
By: CJ Sheu

After writer-director Steve McLean’s 1994 David Wojnarowicz biopic Postcards from America, his first fully fictional film follows Jim (Harris Dickinson), an “eighteen—I mean twenty-one”-year-old from Essex who arrives in Soho and is taken under the wing of four (“we used to be five”) debonair sex workers. Jim attracts the group, led by David (Jonah Hauer-King) and including dandies of Spanish, Italian, and French extraction (Alessandro Cimadamore, Leonardo Salerni, and Raphael Desprez, respectively), because he’s built like a Greco-Roman statue. (A photoshoot sequence to create Jim’s calling card offers ample proof.)

They call themselves raconteurs because what they sell isn’t just gay sex, it’s the post-coital conversation filled with witty banter and cultured allusions to art and artists of every medium and age. They spend their days immersed in books on art and artists (and artist gossip), and their highest aspiration is to become the muse to a famous painter. At the moment, they’re obsessed with Caravaggio.

Source: 2019 Taiwan International Queer Film Festival

It sounds like they’re commodifying artistic knowledge in addition to their bodies, but surprisingly the film is dead serious about art. When Jim completes his basic education, David throws a hypothetical scenario at him by describing a client and asking him to recommend a painting. Jim’s answer displays a moving insight into the client’s psyche and stage of life, and he recommends Caravaggio’s Flagellation of Christ, the perfect painting for all the right reasons. Unfortunately, this is the emotional high point of the film, and we’ve still got an hour to go.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan's spookiest haunted house Mixing Ghost House busiest during Ghost Month

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/15
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Today (Aug. 15) is the Ghost Festival, the spookiest day of Ghost Month in Taiwan, and the creepiest place to visit on this day would be the Minxiong Ghost House (民雄鬼屋), which has been crowned as the scariest haunted house in Taiwan by Yahoo Kimo.

Number one on Yahoo Kimo's list of the top ten scariest haunted houses in Taiwan is the Minxiong Ghost House, which is located in Chiayi County's Minxiong Township. Although there are many taboos that are meant to help people avoid ghoulish gaffes, the mansion sees its peak number of visitors during Ghost Month.

The mansion dates to 1929 and was built by a local businessman by the name of Liu Rongyu (劉溶裕). However, it was abandoned a few short years after construction was completed.

There are many legends about the mansion. One story goes that a maidservant secretly had an affair with the home's owner, but once the man's wife discovered the affair, she tortured the servant.
[FULL  STORY]

‘PARTNERS’:AIT  Director Brent Christensen attended the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition and commended Taiwan on its investments

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 16, 2019
By: Aaron Tu and Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday made clear her intention to buy more upgraded F-16 jets from

the US and expressed the hope that Washington would reach a decision on the sale, as she tried out an F-16 flight simulator at the opening of the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition.

Tsai gave a speech at the opening ceremony at the Taipei World Trade Center’s Exhibition Hall 1 and toured the defense pavilion, where she viewed the indigenous Jian Hsiang anti-radiation drone, the Teng Yun medium-altitude long-endurance drone and experienced the F-16 simulator.

“I tried the F-16 simulator a while ago. We need to constantly enhance our air defense capability,” she said in an interview after the tour. “I hope we can have more F-16 jets.”

“I also hope that the US government can make a decision after they complete their internal process,” Tsai said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 14 August, 2019
By: Paula Chao

What if the government gave you US$1,000 every month? If Andrew Yang is elected, that could become a reality. Yang is the first Taiwanese-American to run for president in the US, and he’s pushing his version of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) to solve the crisis of jobs being replaced by automation. 

In today’s Taiwan Insider, we take a break from Taiwan’s presidential race to focus on the Taiwanese-American candidate that has recently qualified for the next round of Democratic Party debates. Once considered a long shot, Andrew Yang is amassing a sizeable following called the “Yang Gang”.  

Natalie Tso speaks with the head of the Yang Gang in Taiwan, Peter Wang, to find out more. Also, UBI Taiwan Chairman Tyler Prochazka explains what a universal basic income would look like in Taiwan. 
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese military installations face ever-increasing risks from Chinese cruise missiles, as well as other aerial threats.

The Drive
Date: August 14, 2019
By: Joseph trevithick

Taiwan has expanded the development of its still-in-development Sea Oryxnaval point defense system to include and land-based variant. This could help provide an important additional layer of defenses around various critical military installations against cruise missiles, anti-radiation missiles, and small drones, as well as potentially larger threats, such as helicopters and low-flying manned aircraft.

Taiwan's National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, or NCSIST, showed a video presentation on Sea Oryx at biennial Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition that included a depiction of a truck-mounted version of the system for what appears to be the first time. The video also shows the point defense system fitted on a future guided-missile destroyer, which NCIST is also developing, as well as one of the country's upcoming stealthy catamaran missile corvettes, a program 

Sea Oryx, which NCSIST first announced publicly in 2015, is similar in general concept to the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM). The missile is a derivative of the Tien Chien 1L (TC-1L), or Sky Sword 1L, surface-to-air missile, which is, itself, derived from the AIM-9 Sidewinder. The weapon leverages the imaging infrared seeker from the earlier TC-1L missile, along with its forward control surfaces, and combined them with a new rear section that includes a significantly larger and more powerful rocket motor.

The complete system includes a launcher with either 12 or 24 missiles at the ready and a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor to help identify targets before launch. Sea Oryx will also be able to use targeting data from off-board sensors, such as ship-mounted or land-based radars, to cue the missiles.    [FULL  STORY]

Production of amphibious attack vessels a priority: Chinese analyst

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/14
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Once all of its eight new landing vessels are completed, China will position half of them north of Taiwan and the other half to the south of the island, the China Times reported Wednesday (August 14).

Six of the Type 071 20,000-ton ships are already in service, while the final two were launched last June but were still being prepared, according to the report.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/14
By: Chi Jo-yao

Taipei, Aug. 14 (CNA) Taiwan will give consideration to Hong Kong people who apply for residency in

Taiwan under existing regulations, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Tuesday, amid the violent suppression of protests taking place in Hong Kong.

Taiwan's law governing permits for Hong Kong residents entering Taiwan is capable of dealing with most applications for residency filed by Hong Kong people, said the MAC, which oversees relations with China.

Due consideration will be given if applicants need special assistance, although the MAC has not received any such requests, spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said.

"Based on our humanitarian spirit and respect for human rights, the government will provide assistance to specific individuals on a case-by-case basis," the spokesman said, without specifying what kind of help might be available.    [FULL  STORY]

RESOLUTION PASSED: With general elections just 150 days away, all members of the party should unite, Central Standing Committee member Lee Cho-ping said

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 15, 2019
By: Shih Hsiao-kuang, Wang Jung-hsiang and Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee yesterday passed a resolution by

committee member Lee Cho-ping (李昭平) to “promptly expel” any party member who maliciously attacks, maligns or slanders the KMT’s presidential or legislative nominees and tarnishes the party’s image.

With the elections just 150 days away, all members of the party should unite, Lee said.

The party cannot allow people with ulterior motives to use any reason as an excuse to destroy party unity, he said, adding that discipline in the party should be strictly enforced during the campaign period.

The resolution came amid allegations from within the party that Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), its presidential candidate, is a gambler, an alcoholic and a womanizer.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 13 August, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

Tainan closed schools and offices on Tuesday due to severe floods caused by overnight thundershowers.

The sporadic but heavy rain started Monday night and lasted until Tuesday morning. Many roads were flooded to thigh-high water levels keeping vehicles from being able to move. Some stores were also flooded.

The Tainan City Government activated its emergency response mechanism at 5:30 am. Mayor Huang Wei-cher announced the closing offices and schools an hour later.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei's Daguan residents were forcefully evicted without much response from the Tsai administration.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/08/13
By: Brian Hioe

Taipei's Duguan community was dismantled with little fanfare this month, ending the residents' longtime resistance against eviction and urban renewal.

Daguan is a military dependents’ village nestled in Banqiao, a booming district in New Taipei City. Many Daguan residents are elderly and disabled, having lived there for decades. The Veteran’s Affairs Council (VAC), however, wanted to remove Daguan residents from the land, claiming that they were not the original occupants as some residents had purchased the land from the original owners. The VAC intended to impose fines upon Daguan residents for illegally appropriating government property.

After the demolition on August 1, it remains unknown where the Daguan residents will go next. Each household will receive some settlement from the government in the form of a lump sum of NT$360,000, but this can hardly compensate for the loss of homes that residents have occupied for most of their lives. Daguan residents continue to emphasize that they are not illegal residents of their community.

Evictions of the elderly residents from military dependents’ villages was a major social issue in the years before the 2014 Sunflower Movement. Such urban eviction cases have become less common after the high tide of student activism receded and the current Tsai administration took office.

Previous forced evictions like the Hua Kuang community in Taipei have been executed without a resolution or a concrete plan. Hua Kuang, which was demolished in 2013, remains a vacant grass field to date.    [FULL  STORY]