The movie A Foggy Tale (大濛), which received 11 nominations for the 62nd Golden Horse Awards, including the Best Narrative Feature Award, premiered last night in Chiayi where it was filmed.
Set 70 years ago and starring Taiwanese actresses Caitlin Fang (方郁婷), Joanne Tang (湯毓綺) — better known by her stage name 9m88 — and Hong Kong actor Will Or (柯煒林), the film is spoken in mainly Hoklo (better known as Taiwanese).
Photo: CNA
The story focuses on the White Terror era, the period of political persecution that began when former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) declared martial law in 1949.
It follows a young girl who learns her brother has been executed and travels from Chiayi to Taipei to find her sister and claim his body, meeting a trishaw driver along the way who begins to play a brotherly role in her life.
The movie was shot across various locations in Chiayi, including Wanguo Cinema, Chiayi Old Prison and the Showa 18 site in Chiayi Park, which houses relics of the Japanese colonial period including the former purification hall and the administrative office of the Chiayi Shinto Shrine.
In one scene, Showa 18, is transformed into the fictional “Jile Funeral Home” and the old prison bathhouse is reimagined as a morgue.
It also recreates the style of 1950s song-and-dance troupes at Wanguo Cinema, with Tang performing as a showgirl.
Audience members who experienced the White Terror said last night that it brought back memories of the fear felt by Taiwanese at the time, while underscoring the peace in contemporary Taiwan.
Last night’s premiere was attended by director Chen Yu-hsun (陳玉勳), producer Yeh Ju-fen (葉如芬), Tang and Chiayi County Commissioner Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁).
The name A Foggy Tale refers to the Hoklo word for “fogged over,” which symbolizes how many things in Taiwan 70 years ago were “obscured like a mist,” Chen said.
Chen thanked the Chiayi County Government and local organizations for their support in providing access to historical locations and helping to recreate the environment of 1950s Taiwan.
Weng thanked director Chen for helping more people discover and fall in love with Chiayi through the film.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
UNFOUNDED CONCERNS: Public concerns that allowing Indian workers to come and work in Taiwan would lead to increased sex crimes are baseless, the labor ministry said Amid public concern over the government’s plan to bring Indian workers to Taiwan, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) pointed to past intake and said that public safety remained stable. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on April 9 told the legislature that the first group of Indian workers could arrive as early as the end of this year. Taiwan and India signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in February 2024 to address Taiwan’s labor shortage. The MOU was sent to the Legislative Yuan for review in mid-2024 and received cross-party backing, prompting the MOL to begin follow-up negotiations with India, Hung said. Public
RSS