Saturday, November 05, 2005

Taiwanese Film and 'Fantabulous'

The GIO, in charge of public relations for Taiwan, is masterminding a blow-out broadcast of the island's major film awards programs.

By bringing four big events together, the Government Information Office (GIO) is taking a brand new approach that differs from anything previously attempted in the history of this nation, at least in terms of the management of multiple industries. In this case, they are the broadcasting, television, telecommunications and motion-picture industries, and the four grand events are the Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards, the Golden Bell Awards for TV and radio, the Taipei TV and Film Festival and the Taiwan Film and Television Project Promotion. These events are combined in the promotional campaign dubbed "Fantabulous Taiwan." "In the past, people considered the GIO as the organization that regulates films," said Pasuya Yao, who is not only the publisher of this newspaper but also the Minister of the GIO. Yao made the comment at an Oct. 26 press conference to promote his "three plus one" expo. "Now, the GIO's role is to promote the industry," he declared.
Some stats at the end on the media here.

Taiwanese films are also getting noticed overseas....

Between January and September, Taiwanese films participated in international film festivals at least 120 times. Among these, "The Wayward Cloud," directed by Tsai Ming-liang, won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution, the Alfred Bauer Prize, and the Fipresci Prize at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival. "Holiday Dreaming," directed by Hsu Fu-chun, won the Grand Lotus Prize and the International Critics' Award at the Deauville Festival of American Film in France. "Splendid Float," directed by Chou Mei-ling, won the Audience Award for best film at the CJ Asian Independent Film Festival in South Korea. "Respire," directed by Ho Wi-ding, won the Kodak Discovery Award for Best Short Film and the TV5 Young Critics' Award at the Cannes Film Festival. "Small Station," directed by Lin Chien-ping, won the Leone Citroen Award for Best Short Film at the Venice Film Festival.

1 comment:

M.C. said...

Thanks for posting this... I forget sometimes that the GIO website can actually be a very useful site for statistics like the table at the bottom of the first link. But then there are press-friendly blurbs like "On the one hand, the [Golden Bell] awards are aimed at encouraging the production of radio and TV programs that promote proper moral values and expand the horizons of listeners and viewers. On the other hand, they are also an indication of the great influence that radio and TV have on the general public" (emphasis mine) ... that's so... 1970's martial law era. Or even Nationalist-ruled Republican Era China ideologically paranoiac. I'd wish they'd drop such goody-two-shoes media monitoring for the sake of developing a more mature industry.