Tainan National University of the Arts (TNUA) is poised to become the cradle of the nation's animation industry with its well-established academic background and expanding plans and ambition to achieve that goal.
The university is running the nation's first graduate institute of animation, nurturing skilled talent in animation art and industry every year, and it is also bolstering cooperation with international groups and foreign institutes in related industries and research, according to university president Huang Pi-twan (黃碧端).
One of Taiwan's two "digital design resources centers," TNUA has been invited by the world-renowned New Zealand film production company Oktobor, which produced cinema hits such as Lord of the Rings and Matrix, to join its production team for a new animated movie titled The Legend of the White Snake, Huang said.
Huang made the remarks during an interview marking the eighth anniversary of the university's establishment.
TNUA, located in Kuantian Township,Tainan, was known as Tainan National College of the Arts until August, when it was upgraded into a university.
The university has made the most of a NT$7 million annual budget, allocated by the central government for the development of digital design since last year, to optimize related activities, including organizing two international forums on audio, video and digital arts, Huang said.
Academics and digital designers who came to Taiwan for the second forum, which wrapped up on the TNUA campus last week, included production team members from Oktobor; scholars and lecturers from the Institute of Fine Arts of the University of New South Wales, which has sisterhood ties with TNUA; and a professor from the University of Tokyo.
According to Huang, the university's Institute of Animation has cooperated with world-renowned lecturers and experts in writing and translating a series of books on the science and art of animation.
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