Tickets to the premiere of the documentary Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above (看見台灣) at the Kaohsiung Arena (K-Arena) on Oct. 23 have been flying off the shelves since going on sale on Tuesday, boding well for the first Taiwanese film to give viewers a bird’s-eye view of country’s beauty.
According to the film’s production team, all premium-class tickets, priced at NT$499 (US$17) each, were sold out on the first day, with about 50 percent of the tickets for other viewing areas also sold.
With a production budget of nearly NT$90 million, the 93 minute film is the brainchild of Taiwanese director Chi Po-lin (齊柏林), a veteran aerial photographer who resigned from his “iron-bowl job” in the government about three years ago to make a movie featuring his own country.
Photo: Yang Ching-ching, Taipei Times
The documentary brings together a team of specialists in the movie industry, with film director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) serving as the executive producer, multiple award-winning composer Ricky Ho (何國杰) as the music score producer and member of the nation’s cultural glitterati Wu Nien-chen (吳念真) as the supplier of voiceovers.
“I think no one has ever observed Taiwan as carefully as a bird hovering or a cloud floating above,” Wu is heard narrating the film’s trailer. “Only from such an angle and height can you truly understand the beauty and sadness of Taiwan … and in Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above, Chi Po-lin leads us to see, to understand Taiwan or even to love Taiwan from such a height.”
The film has been nominated for Best Documentary and Best Original Film Score at the 50th Golden Horse Awards — Taiwan’s equivalent of Hollywood’s Academy Awards — which is scheduled for Nov. 23.
Because of his infatuation with aerial photography, Chi has been able to see more clearly how much the nation has suffered from natural disasters, said Shih Che (史哲), director of the Greater Kaohsiung Government’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs.
“The situation worried Chi very much and prompted him to withdraw his life savings, put his house up as collateral for a loan and quit his civil service job. He did so all for the sake of making this documentary,” Shih said.
Shih said Chi’s adventurous move led his son, who was a second-grade senior-high school student at the time, to leave his father a note asking him: “Is there any money left for me to go to college?”
After learning of the documentary and Chi’s passion from local media reports, Shih said the bureau offered to help Chi secure the K-Arena for his movie’s premiere and take charge of all the preparatory work in collaboration with online ticket seller Kham Ticket.
“We will donate all the revenue from the premiere to director Chi as a gesture of gratitude to his long-time dedication to this country. Hopefully he will one day raise enough funds for his plan to document the beauty of Taiwan in all four seasons,” Shih said.
The documentary is to be officially released in theaters nationwide on Nov. 1.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
RSS