The Way Home (絕處逢生-讓瀕絕植物回家), a Taiwanese documentary on endangered species, grabbed three awards of excellence at the Accolade Global Film Competition, the Endemic Species Research Institute said yesterday.
The documentary, which took eight years to plan and two years to make, was given awards of excellence in the Nature/Environment/Wildlife, Cinematography, and Public Service Programming categories, ESRI director Yang Jia-dong (楊嘉棟) said.
Filmed in 4K, The Way Home features beautiful time-lapse photography of nearly extinct flowers blooming, the institute said separately in a statement.
Photo provided by the Endemic Species Research Institute
The film also captures the recovery of the endangered Spathoglottis plicata on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), which is known as the species’ home, as well as on Green Island (綠島), the institute said.
Spathoglottis plicata were common on Orchid Island until they were picked in large quantities, Yang said.
Commenting on the challenges of making the documentary, Yang said the film crew had to make arduous journeys to reach the places where the rare plants were growing, and some crew members were injured when they fell into a creek.
“The plants are not like human actors,” Yang said, adding that it often took a long time just to acquire a single shot.
According to its Web site, the Accolade Global Film Competition, which was established in 2003, is an international event aimed at giving talented directors, producers, actors, creative teams and new media creators the positive exposure they deserve.
Each year, the competition receives thousands of entries, and their quality and creativity are celebrated in four categories: Best of Show, Awards of Excellence, Awards of Merit, and Awards of Recognition, the Web site says.
The Way Home is the latest Taiwanese documentary to gain international recognition.
Last year, two Taiwanese documentaries on Yushan (玉山, Jade Mountain) won Platinum Remi awards at the WorldFest-Houston International Film & Video Festival in the US.
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