Focusing on film policy reform

In the pamphlets, apart from Lin Cheng-sheng's Robinson's Cruise (魯賓遜漂流記), which was selected in the Un Certain Regard section, there are two new projects by Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), The Skywalk is Gone (天橋不見了) and Wayward Wind (天邊一朵雲). Animation company Wang Films (宏廣動畫) is presenting the US$5 million Monkey King (火焰山), while local film company Pandasia (騰達) has a larger ambition. It's new project, Seeing Red, plans to recruit Chow Yun-fat, Kate Winslet and Michelle Pfeiffer for the cast, and either Kenneth Branagh or Alan Parker to direct the film.

On Tuesday, the GIO and Taiwan filmmmaking delegates will hold a Taiwan Night wine party in Cannes. "We are spending NT$5 million in total for the Taiwan Film stand and Taiwan Night. And in the future we will be using the name of Taiwan Film to enter the other important film markets," Chou said.

Setting up a film stand and holding parties to promote a country's film industry is common in such giant markets as Cannes. Hong Kong has been holding a star-studded Hong Kong Night in Cannes for the past two years. Now, Taiwan has finally joined the battle.

Chou admitted that the example of other Asian countries was one of the reasons the GIO is now taking steps to promote Taiwan films.

"Films can be seen as an index to a country's culture and they can reflect the depth and history of a culture, like South Korea or Thailand.

"Looking back in Taiwan, we may be proud of our Chinese heritage. We used to have a prosperous film industry that made martial arts and entertainment movies in the 1970s. But it is now time to reboot the film industry," Chou said.

Another part of the government's reform package of the film industry is the government's endorsement of the 2008 National Development Focus Projects (2008國家發展重點計劃), which focuses on development of the so-called digital content industry, i.e. digital movies, animations, games. The GIO has received an extra NT$140 million to implement these new policies.

South Korea's fast-growing film industry and computer game industry provides Taiwan with a good example of the role of the government in boosting industries that deal with entertainment and creativity, supporters of the funding say.

Presently, the Ministry of Finance (財政部) is the only government department that has reservations about the investment, but at least there has been a positive reaction towards the GIO's reform in general.

"Encouraging investment is something many filmmakers have been longing for. I have only one thing to say to the GIO. That is, we are happy to see it. Please do it soon," said director Lin Cheng-sheng.