In a bid to get local moviegoers back in the theater, the Taipei City Government yesterday kicked off a series of events designed to publicize next year's fourth annual Taipei Film Festival (台北電影節).
Addressing the media and program coordinators, director of the city's Bureau of Cultural Affairs (文化局), Lung Ying-tai (龍應台), said that this year's film festival will focus more on culture.
"It's no longer one big movie-showing event which serves as a propaganda channel for the city government but a carefully planned cultural project," she said.
The city's Department of Information (新聞處) has been organizing the annual event since it was inaugurated three years ago. It will become the responsibility of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs starting this year.
"We'll launch various programs designed to reach the long-term goals of increasing the number of moviegoers, cultivating movie-production talent and making Taipei a center of student filmmaking," she said.
The project will be kicked off by the showing of 19 Chinese-language films produced in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan this year.
"We hope to create an opportunity for the public to enjoy some of the best Chinese-language movies produced throughout the year," said Peggy Chiao (焦雄屏), director of the Taiwan Film Center (台灣電影中心), which is coordinating the project.
The 19 films will be shown at the Chung Chun Movie Theater (長春戲院) and the Chih Hsing Cultural and Educational Foundation (知行文教基金會) between Nov. 5 and Nov. 9.
Over 40 other activities will take place in the six months leading up to the Taipei Film Festival, which is slated for March.
The National Taiwan University of Arts (台灣藝術大學) is organizing the international film festival for students.
Yang Hsien-lang (楊憲郎), dean of communications at the university, said that he hopes to make Taipei an exchange center of student films. "We don't intend to compete with Cannes or Berlin as far as commercial films go. We're trying to create a stage for low-budget filmmakers such as students," he said.
The Taiwan Documentary Development Association (紀錄片發展協會) won the contract to coordinate the film festival for city residents.
Professional and amateur film producers who are Taipei City residents and have 60-minute films are encouraged to enter the contest.
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