Screenwriter Lai Tung-che (賴東澤) on Monday took home the top prize for unproduced scripts at the annual Excellent Screenplay Awards held by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development in Taipei.
His winning script, titled Den Ensamstaende (紅星孤旅), is a sci-fi thriller about an astronaut’s run-in with intelligent machines on Mars.
Writing a script is like creating a small universe, said Lai at the Taipei New Horizon building, where he accepted the award along with a NT$600,000 (US$19,450) cash prize.
Photo: CNA
Lai — who posts his works on the creative writing platform Mirror Fiction (鏡文學) under the pen name Rocke Ryan L”s — said he hoped that the universes he has created would entertain audiences in the future.
Novelist Chang Yao-sheng (張耀升), also of Mirror Fiction, won one of 13 third-place prizes — which came with a NT$100,000 check — for Tui (腿), a dark comedy.
Other third-prize winners included directors Ko Chen-nien (柯貞年) and An Bon (安邦), actress Patty Wu (吳可熙) and actor Soda Voyu (蘇達).
Wu won the award for Nina Wu (灼人秘密), a thriller she wrote with director Chao Te-yin (趙德胤), better known as Midi Z, between acting gigs.
Nina Wu, which is in post-production, was inspired by her experiences in the entertainment business, Wu said.
Shan Hsia Wu Min (山下無名), Voyu’s first script, is about a man who discovers his Aboriginal grandmother’s past.
Voyu — who submitted a script for last year’s contest, but was not selected — encouraged writers not to give up.
In her acceptance speech, second-time winner Hui Wu (繪武), who took home a second-place prize for Tao Chai Nu Wang (討債女王), said that the bureau should provide prize money to nominees as an incentive.
It is difficult for screenwriters to earn a living in Taiwan, she said, adding that they often do not receive fair pay for their work.
The NT$100,000 cash prize that she received last year for Ai Te Cha Chi Fan (愛的詐欺犯) covered her living expenses for four months, she added.
The bureau said that it would consider her advice.
The bureau received 335 submissions this year, 38 of which were nominated. The winners were chosen through a blind selection process to receive NT$4 million in prize money.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS