Scott Saulters wasn’t sure if his film had just taken one of the two top prizes at a recent film competition.
Although Saulters has been in Taiwan for 15 years and is proficient in Mandarin, the award ceremony for the inaugural “Bi Tian Iann” (眯電影) short film contest was conducted entirely in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), a language he can’t speak.
“I thought I heard it, but I didn’t want to look too excited,” he says.
Photo courtesy of Scott Saulters
Despite his limited command of the tongue, Saulter’s entry, Wu Yu Tzu (烏魚子, mullet roe), took first place in the amateur category of the competition, which called for three-minute submissions with at least 80 percent of the dialogue in Hoklo.
The contest was organized by PTS Taigi — the PTS’ Hoklo-language channel launched in July last year, along with the Taipei Film Commission and the Taipei Culture Foundation.
“I wasn’t really too concerned about making a film in a language I cannot speak, as I can speak Mandarin, which is close enough to not make it a completely foreign experience,” Saulters says.
Photos courtesy of Scott Saulters
It helps that Saulters’ partner, Patty Zhu (朱宥琳), is a Taiwanese stage actress whose mother tongue is Hoklo. Zhu, who stars in Wu Yu Tzu, says the two began writing and shooting shorts after the COVID-19 pandemic put her out of work.
Saulters, who works for a gaming graphics company, returned from a business trip to the US right before the 14-day mandatory quarantine was imposed. Believing that they would be permanently stuck at home, the two started setting up the scenes for Wu Yu Tzu.
“The [Centers of Disease Control] told me two days later that they had made a mistake,” Saulters says. “But we had already made the plans.”
RHYTHMS OF HOKLO
They looked up film competitions and found that “Bi Tian Iann” fit the timeframe and parameters the best — except for the language. Saulters already knew the script pretty well when they switched it to Hoklo, though he still had some difficulties editing since the scenes weren’t filmed in order. As a musician, he treated the sounds as musical notes during the post-production process.
“There are a lot of nuances to the [Hoklo] language … that give it its beauty,” Saulters says. “I perceive them as music qualities, similar to rhythmic motifs, melodic inflections, variations in tempo and so on. I allow this almost unconscious information to influence and guide the visual structures.”
Zhu, who grew up in Taipei, says she feels that when Hoklo is used in a local film or drama production, it almost always features old people in the countryside, temple performers or stereotypical tropes such as gangsters or loud aunties. When her colleagues were assigned Hoklo roles, she noticed they would automatically assume exaggerated personas to cater to this stereotype.
“It’s as if the language changes their character or the settings,” she says. “The transformation happens so naturally, but it shouldn’t be this way.”
As someone who says that the language “makes her feel like home,” Zhu feels uncomfortable with this continued portrayal. The situation contrasts with the music industry, where Hoklo pop, rock and rap enjoy considerable popularity.
“Hoklo dramas generally cater to older audiences,” she says. “I wanted to portray Hoklo in a modern setting, featuring more relevant themes and dialogue.”
However, the reality is that Hoklo is not heard very often in Taipei. “The settings still need to be logical,” Zhu says. “It’s implausible to show crowds chattering in Hoklo on Zhongxiao E Road.”
The resulting film portrays a simple phone conversation between a woman and her mother. Zhu’s character is asking her mother how to prepare mullet roe for a dinner guest, but the mother is more interested in her love life. It’s one of those seemingly casual but loaded conversations between family members in Taiwan, and Zhu feels that Hoklo can better express this roundabout way of speaking.
“The language needs to be modernized in order to be preserved,” Zhu says. “Only by presenting it in new ways can we open more avenues and possibilities for its development.”
May 18 to May 24 Pastor Yang Hsu’s (楊煦) congregation was shocked upon seeing the land he chose to build his orphanage. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the only way to access it was to cross a river by foot. The soil was poor due to runoff, and large rocks strewn across the plot prevented much from growing. In addition, there was no running water or electricity. But it was all Yang could afford. He and his Indigenous Atayal wife Lin Feng-ying (林鳳英) had already been caring for 24 orphans in their home, and they were in
On May 2, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), at a meeting in support of Taipei city councilors at party headquarters, compared President William Lai (賴清德) to Hitler. Chu claimed that unlike any other democracy worldwide in history, no other leader was rooting out opposing parties like Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). That his statements are wildly inaccurate was not the point. It was a rallying cry, not a history lesson. This was intentional to provoke the international diplomatic community into a response, which was promptly provided. Both the German and Israeli offices issued statements on Facebook
Even by the standards of Ukraine’s International Legion, which comprises volunteers from over 55 countries, Han has an unusual backstory. Born in Taichung, he grew up in Costa Rica — then one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — where a relative worked for the embassy. After attending an American international high school in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, Han — who prefers to use only his given name for OPSEC (operations security) reasons — moved to the US in his teens. He attended Penn State University before returning to Taiwan to work in the semiconductor industry in Kaohsiung, where he
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday delivered an address marking the first anniversary of his presidency. In the speech, Lai affirmed Taiwan’s global role in technology, trade and security. He announced economic and national security initiatives, and emphasized democratic values and cross-party cooperation. The following is the full text of his speech: Yesterday, outside of Beida Elementary School in New Taipei City’s Sanxia District (三峽), there was a major traffic accident that, sadly, claimed several lives and resulted in multiple injuries. The Executive Yuan immediately formed a task force, and last night I personally visited the victims in hospital. Central government agencies and the