Taiwanese TV film A Lease to Paradise (違章天堂) -- an award-winning production by the Public Television Service Taiwan (PTS, 公視) -- will be broadcast on May 15 on US west-coast TV channel KCET for the coming Taiwanese American Heritage Week in mid May.
There will also be a simultaneous Web cast of the show on PTS Taiwan's Internet site.
Directed by Yang Ya-che (楊雅吉), A Lease to Paradise is the winner in four major Golden Bell Awards categories -- Taiwan's answer to the Emmy Awards. In 2002 the film won best TV movie, best TV movie director, best TV movie actress and best TV movie script.
PHOTO COURTESY PTS
The film tells about the life story of an old lady from a fishing village who fights to preserve a "home" for her deceased loved ones and herself in the afterlife. A group of unrelated people meet and they make a home from a deserted building.
The program marks the first collaboration between PTS Taiwan and KCET, the west coast flagship station of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), that has a weekly audience of 2.8 million households.
For Taiwanese American Heritage Week, the channel has since 2001 broadcast prominent Taiwanese films including three Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) movies in 2001; Prison to Power, a biographical film about Annette Lu; and the animated film Grandma and Her Ghosts (魔法阿媽) in 2002.
Taiwanese American Heritage Week is an annual event of Taiwanese communities in the US which aims to enhance cultural exchanges between the countries. Each year in May since 1999 Taiwanese communities have held a series of cultural events across the States, introducing Taiwanese culture.
Lease to Paradise has been scheduled to be broadcast at 11pm on May 15. To further commemorate this first collaboration with KCET, PTS will provide online access to the program before its release date. Internet users can get free previews from May 8 to May 22.
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