The Taipei City Government plans to promote the domestic film industry with preferential treatment for moviemakers and encouragement for filming in Taipei.
Taipei City’s Cultural Affairs Department (CAD), which established a film commission in January to encourage cooperation with the film industry, in July started offering discounted rates at 96 municipal hotels for local filmmakers who film in the city.
The city government has stepped up efforts to encourage the local film industry following the phenomenal success of Cape No. 7 (海角七號).
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The locally made film, which was set in southern Taiwan, was a box office smash selling NT$200 million (US$6 million) in tickets after its Aug. 22 opening and attracted a wave of fans to Kenting (墾丁) and Hengchun (恆春), where the film was shot.
The movie opened the 2008 Taipei Film Festival in June, and won best picture.
CAD Commissioner Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) said the department would establish regulations on renting public space in order to make it easier for filmmakers to set action scenes in locations such as MRT stations. The city government will earmark NT$12 million in subsidies for filmmakers and TV producers who shoot in Taipei.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wu Shih-cheng (吳世正), however, challenged the department over the poor box office results of this year’s Taipei Film Festival. He urged the department to improve the festival next year by finding a better location for screening films than Taipei Zhongshan Hall (中山堂), which is not a theater.
Lee acknowledged that ticket sales at this year’s festival were NT$1 million less than last year, and the number of participants dropped to about 50,000.
Lee said in the past the department had failed to persuade major theaters to provide space for 1,000 festival viewers, but promised to propose potential locations for next year’s festival in a month.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Lee Wen-ying (李文英) said the city government should follow the Kaohsiung City Government’s example in regulating subsidies given to local filmmakers and offering discounted ticket for movies shot in the city.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS