Winning the Venice Film Festival’s grand jury prize and five nominations at this year’s Golden Horse Awards seems to have returned a smile to the face of Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), who hinted on Wednesday that he is not done with filmmaking.
“Making feature films is very tiring ... I hope my life is not so tiring. But I won’t stop creating,” the Malaysian-born director said at an event in Taipei to celebrate his victory at the Venice Film Festival last month with his film Stray Dogs (郊遊).
Tsai was responding to a question of whether Stray Dogs would be his last film, which is what he announced at the Italian festival. The 55-year-old said he is currently content with his life, as he is now making films for himself, instead of for his audience. He said he has never been happier than when making an ongoing short film series that he started two years ago featuring actor Lee Kang-sheng (李康生).
Tsai said the filmmaking process is spontaneous and unscripted.
“I will keep this attitude and if after 10 years I start making feature films again, I might not even write a script,” he said.
Tsai, who has refused to make commercial films, has long expressed frustration over popular tastes. After years of struggling at the box office, he said he is now trying something new — cooperating with museums and art galleries to screen his films — instead of relying solely on movie theaters.
In addition to Taiwan, Tsai said museums in China and Hong Kong have expressed interest in screening his films. Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) on Wednesday presented Tsai with an award of NT$2.5 million (US$84,900) for his Venice victory and said her ministry will discuss the possibility of screening Tsai’s films at the museums and galleries under its administration.
Stray Dogs stars Lee as a father struggling to survive with his children on the streets of Taipei. It maintains the slow pace that often typifies Tsai’s work, including a 12-minute scene showing Lee eating rotten vegetables.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all