The Goethe Institut in Taipei plans to introduce modern Germany to Taiwanese through movies that reflect the many faces of a unified Germany, institute director Markus Wernhard said.
Wernhard said on Friday that the institute was planning to cooperate with the organizers of the Golden Horse Awards to showcase German movies during the festival.
“While many people still have a stereotypical impression that the average German is serious and knows no fun, the truth is that the lives of typical Germans today are fun and relaxing,” Wernhard said.
Between eight and 10 German movies will be shown, Wernhard said, during the festival, which is held every year toward the end of the year.
“By viewing these movies, you can see a three-dimensional Germany, the new face of the reunified Germany 20 years on,” he said.
Wernhard said the institute has played a central role in the cultural and educational policies of Germany for more than 50 years.
In addition to promoting the study of the German language in Taiwan, where more than 4,000 students enroll in classes every year, the institute’s branch in Taiwan is also trying to build a platform for cultural communication between the two countries, he said.
While movies will be an important medium to promote cultural awareness, another major theme for the institute’s cultural projects this year will be environmental protection and climate change, Wernhard said.
Wernhard said the institute’s library content would be expanded, with more magazines on topics such as rock and pop music trends.
He said he would like to use media arts to explore the relationships between technology, art and society in the next few years.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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