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.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
RSS