The Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) opened in Taipei yesterday, along with the launch of two investment funds totaling more than NT$1.5 billion (US$48.53 million), one of which involves South Korean entertainment giant CJ ENM.
The fund established by CJ ENM along with Taiwan’s Far EasTone Telecommunications and TVBS, called the Taiwan-Korea Entertainment and Cultural Content Fund, is aimed at backing coproductions between Taiwan and South Korea and their global releases, while also helping Taiwan’s entertainment industry connect with international markets.
The Far EasTone-Enjoy Entertainment Fund, launched in partnership with the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) and Far EasTone, would invest in and promote local film and television productions.
Photo: CNA
The initiatives mark a milestone for Taiwan’s film and television industry in terms of systematic investment and international cooperation, TAICCA chairwoman Sue Wang (王時思) told a news conference.
Wang, who is also deputy minister of culture, expressed hope that Taiwan can learn from the success of South Korean entertainment companies.
CJ ENM executive vice president Sean Cho said that “the Taiwan-Korea Entertainment and Cultural Content Fund represents CJ ENM’s belief that cooperation between Taiwan and South Korea can bring more outstanding works to the global market.”
Far EasTone president Ching Chee (井琪) said the company, which has been involved in the creative content business for at least a decade, increased its investment in production due to rising challenges in content acquisition, citing the dominance of Netflix as a major factor.
Now in its sixth year, the TCCF features pitching, marketing and forum sections, and represents one of Asia’s premier creative industry events, bringing together global buyers and sellers to connect, collaborate and explore business opportunities.
More than 700 works from 44 countries were submitted to the pitching section, underscoring the growing importance of the annual event, Wang said at the show’s opening ceremony.
The selected works would compete for 41 awards with a record NT$10.1 million in prize money, TAICCA said.
This year’s TCCF, which runs through Friday at the Nangang Exhibition Center, is to feature 118 institutions and organizations, highlighted by the French Pavilion’s second appearance and the debut of a Korea Pavilion.
Josue Serres — head of the culture, science and education department at the French Office in Taipei — said French companies were drawn to Taiwan after seeing local firms’ ambition to produce original content, describing them as not merely “service providers,” but “equal partners.”
More major Taiwanese tech companies — including HTC and Chunghwa Telecom — are investing in related productions, some offering expertise in augmented reality and virtual reality technologies, he said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS