Taipei film awards honor homegrown hit 'Detention'

Nikkei Asian Review
Date: December 01, 2019
By: Chris Horton

TAIPEI — Stymied by censorship and political repression during decades of one-party rule, Taiwan’s film industry blossomed during the island’s liberalization in the 1980s and 1990s. But in recent years, it has felt cross pressure from the censorship regime of the neighboring Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.

With a heavily Mandarin-speaking population of 23 million, compared with 1.4 billion in China, many of the democratic island’s filmmakers are attracted to the larger market across the Taiwan strait. But bigger-budget films like “The Assassin,” a 2015 release by director Hou Hsiao-hsien, have had to comply with increasingly restrictive Chinese censors, whose demands include downplaying or erasing Taiwanese identity.

Some filmmakers, though, are succeeding with low-budget Taiwan-centered stories told by young directors and aimed at the local market. John Hsu’s hit film “Detention” offers a prime example of how Taiwanese films can find success. Not only is the film Taiwan’s highest-grossing release this year, it landed a slew of awards at the annual Golden Horse Awards held in Taipei on Saturday.

Hsu, who has directed a number of successful short films, starting with “Intoxicant” (2008), had been deeply moved by the video game “Detention” (2017), he told the Nikkei Asian Review. The survival horror adventure was created by Taiwan’s Red Candle Games for Steam, a distribution platform owned by Valve Corp. of the U.S.    [FULL  STORY]