Au Revoir, Taipei, (一頁台北), a romantic comedy set in Taipei City, won the Best Asian Film Award from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) at the Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday, beating 11 other Asian entries.
The love story, which takes place over the course of one evening in Taipei City, was produced by German director Wim Wenders and directed by Arvin Chen (陳駿霖).
Chen is no stranger to the Berlin film festival. He won a Silver Berlin Bear-Jury Grand Prix for Short Films for a short he made titled May in 2007.
PHOTO: CNA
Starring singer Amber Kuo (郭采潔), Jack Yao (姚淳耀) and Joseph Chang (張孝全), Au Revoir, Taipei screened to packed audiences and won loud applause in Berlin.
Frank Chen (陳志寬), director of the Government Information Office’s (GIO) Motion Picture Affairs Department, conveyed the government’s congratulations to Chen on Saturday over the honor.
By winning the top award at NETPAC, which is an alliance of the Berlin film festival organizers, Au Revoir, Taipei now has the opportunity of winning a prize of NT$1.5 million (US$47,000) awarded by the GIO.
Another Taiwanese movie, Monga (艋舺), which has enjoyed huge box office success in Taiwan, was also screened at the festival, but did not win a prize.
Upon learning of the victory in Berlin, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the performance of the two movies filmed in Taipei was a successful marketing campaign for the city.
Various aspects of Taipei, including the MRT system, night markets and the round-the-clock Eslite bookstore, all feature in the film.
“From Monga to Au Revoir Taipei, the Taipei Film Commission has worked closely with film production teams during the filming process and turned the movies into successful campaign for the city,” Hau told reporters while inspecting a construction site in the city yesterday. “Our cooperation with film crews not only increases publicity and visibility of Taipei worldwide, but also made many movie scenes new destinations for visitors to the city.”
In the making of the movie Monga, the city government closed streets to facilitate the filming, while for Au Revoir Taipei, the city government closed off an MRT station, allowing the crew to use an MRT train for filming and even dispatched real police officers to play police in the movie.
The city government cooperated with 15 countries in the production of 25 motion pictures last year, Hau said.
Outgoing GIO Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) sent a message to the Au Revoir, Taipei team in Berlin to congratulate them for winning the award.
Au Revoir, Taipei and Monga will both receive GIO money.
“As it won an award at an international film festival, the production team of Au Revoir, Taipei will be awarded NT$1.5 million for their achievement,” GIO Motion Picture Affairs Department Director Joanne Tien (田又安) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
“Monga will receive a NT$200,000 prize for being nominated,” she said.
The Berlin International Film Festival concluded yesterday.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LOA IOK-SIN
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
RSS