Cinema in Taiwan seems to be evolving in two opposite directions. Film festivals have experienced rapid growth in the past decade, with experimental and large-scale international festivals catering for all kinds of movie-goers and communities. Art houses and venues such as Spot -- Taipei Film House and Majestic Cinema also provide alternative channels to help withstand the cultural invasion from Hollywood.
Meanwhile, talk about the death of the Taiwanese film industry can still be heard every now and then. Professionals in the industry and government agencies have knocked their brains out to lure audiences back to local movies but the box office performances of local films remains disappointing, except for the occasional surprises, such as Formula 17 (
According to a comprehensive survey on the film industry in Taiwan conducted by the Department of Broadcasting at National Chengchi University, the number of Taiwanese movie-goers attending local films has dropped from 2 percent to 0.5 percent over the past 20 years, while the number of local films produced annually fluctuated between 20 to 35 in the past 10 years.
Statistics compiled by the Government Information Office show that the number of licensed movie theaters has decreased from 229 in 1998 to 180 this year, while the number of screening rooms has risen since huge cinema complexes have become the norm in recent years.
Movie theaters are earning more money than ever before. Since the 1980s theaters have enjoyed a 20 percent increase in profits. And when the first Warner Village Cinema Complex opened in Taiwan, it grossed over one quarter of the total ticket sales in no time. So, it's good news for international enterprises, but bad news for local filmmakers.
This week it's another of those slack times for local films. However, two idol-packed Asian movies aiming at hopeless romantics and teen-movie lovers are set to brighten up this Chinese Valentine's Day weekend.
One is the Japanese love story Heaven's Bookstore (
Heaven's Bookstore recruits two popular stars from Japanese soaps, Tamayama Tetsuji and Yuko Takeuchi, to co-star in this Platonic love story. The movie develops along two parallel storylines: one in heaven, the other on earth.
For those who are tired of the bombardment of Japanese soaps on TV, Bug Me Not can provide an escape from the reality, in which a group of high-schoolers possessed of super powers take up a mission to save the world.
Directed by Law Chi-leung, who has gained fame from horror flicks such as Inner Senses, the film incorporates animation techniques to create a gang of animated bugs and insects to spice up the comic-book-styled story. Fans of Hong Kong teen-idols such as Chen Bo-lin (陳柏霖), and the girl and boy groups Twins and Boyz will surely enjoy the 90-minute show packed with comedy, action, romance and lots of cute bugs.
March 10 to March 16 Although it failed to become popular, March of the Black Cats (烏貓進行曲) was the first Taiwanese record to have “pop song” printed on the label. Released in March 1929 under Eagle Records, a subsidiary of the Japanese-owned Columbia Records, the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) lyrics followed the traditional seven characters per verse of Taiwanese opera, but the instrumentation was Western, performed by Eagle’s in-house orchestra. The singer was entertainer Chiu-chan (秋蟾). In fact, a cover of a Xiamen folk song by Chiu-chan released around the same time, Plum Widow Missing Her Husband (雪梅思君), enjoyed more
Last week Elbridge Colby, US President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defense for policy, a key advisory position, said in his Senate confirmation hearing that Taiwan defense spending should be 10 percent of GDP “at least something in that ballpark, really focused on their defense.” He added: “So we need to properly incentivize them.” Much commentary focused on the 10 percent figure, and rightly so. Colby is not wrong in one respect — Taiwan does need to spend more. But the steady escalation in the proportion of GDP from 3 percent to 5 percent to 10 percent that advocates
A series of dramatic news items dropped last month that shed light on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attitudes towards three candidates for last year’s presidential election: Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Terry Gou (郭台銘), founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It also revealed deep blue support for Ko and Gou from inside the KMT, how they interacted with the CCP and alleged election interference involving NT$100 million (US$3.05 million) or more raised by the
While riding a scooter along the northeast coast in Yilan County a few years ago, I was alarmed to see a building in the distance that appeared to have fallen over, as if toppled by an earthquake. As I got closer, I realized this was intentional. The architects had made this building appear to be jutting out of the Earth, much like a mountain that was forced upward by tectonic activity. This was the Lanyang Museum (蘭陽博物館), which tells the story of Yilan, both its natural environment and cultural heritage. The museum is worth a visit, if only just to get a
RSS