A Taiwanese movie about children and preteens with cancer is being shown in the US and Canada.
BIG, which is directed by Wei Te-sheng (魏德聖) and is about children living in a Taiwanese pediatric oncology ward who move into Room 816, or “BIG,” as they call it, began its North American tour on Thursday last week as part of the sixth North America Taiwanese Film Tour Festival.
In partnership with Canada’s Pride Asian Film Festival and the Taiwan Film Festival in Toronto (TFFT), BIG is to be screened in 27 cities this month and next month.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Film Festival in Toronto
The film’s first stop was in Southern California where it was first played in Thousand Oaks on Friday last week, followed by Monrovia and San Diego on Saturday.
The film was on Sunday screened in Houston, Texas, and it is tomorrow to be screened in Atlanta, Georgia.
During each screening, director Wei interacts with audience members to give additional insight into the movie and his creative process.
BIG was written and directed by Wei, who is often credited with reviving Taiwan’s film industry with his breakout rom-com Cape No. 7 (海角七號) and the two-part historical blockbuster Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (賽德克巴萊).
Wei said he was inspired to venture into a different genre after he met an amputee a few years ago.
They had bone cancer, but remained optimistic about life, which inspired Wei, he said.
Cutting between animation and live action, BIG first hit screens across Taiwan on Dec. 1 last year.
Although it initially failed to win big at the box office, the film went on to amass a following among fans and supporters who resonated with the topic.
Fans of the film helped BIG establish a reputation among non-profit groups and also religious, medical, and educational institutions, leading to a record number of screenings in Taiwan.
The film had earned more than NT$40 million (US$1.27 million) domestically by last month, following the screening successes.
The movie features actors such as Hsia Yu-tung (夏宇童), Chen Po-cheng (陳博正) and Van Fan (范逸臣), as well as Taiwanese-American actor Andrew Chau (周厚安) and Japanese actress Chie Tanaka.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by