Taiwanese Film Turns a Corner

On December 4th Chungshan Hall in Taichung City was full of glitz and glamor as it played host to the 41st annual Golden Horse awards. The city had been drenched by Typhoon Namadol that morning, but by the afternoon the storm had taken its leave, and that evening cinemaphiles made their way to Star Boulevard in front of Chungshan Hall. In front of an audience in the tens of thousands, a 75-meter-long red carpet was rolled out and the atmosphere started to build. It wasn't until the stars came out later that the place really started to echo with screams and cheers as the fans gave attendees a ringing welcome.

There were no dark horses nor clean sweeps amongst the recipients of the awards. The film that took Best Picture, Kekexili, though, may be an unfamiliar name to Taiwanese audiences, given that it hasn't screened in Taiwan yet. Kekexili, by mainland director Lu Chuan and funded by Columbia Asia Film Production, tells the story of a Tibetan volunteer patrol working in the Tibetan highlands pursuing a group of poachers trading in antelope wool. The judging panel called the film "a poetic depiction of the realities of life in a harsh world."

In the categories for individuals, Hong Kong star Daniel Wu received the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in New Police Story, which also took home the trophies for Best Visual Effects and Best Action Choreography. Cop flick Breaking News won director Johnnie To the gong for Best Director, while Best New Performer was shared between Taiwanese performers Tony Yang Yu-nin for his role in Formula 17 and Hong Hao-xuan for her part in Bear Hug. The most anticipated awards, Best Leading Actor and Actress, went to Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau for his role in Infernal Affairs III, and Taiwanese star Yang Kuei-mei for The Moon Also Rises, as had been widely expected.

For Infernal Affairs III, Andy Lau reprised his role as a triad member who has infiltrated the Hong Kong police force, trying to exorcise the ghosts of his criminal past in Lau's first emotionally troubled role. Yang Kuei-mei, nominated for her fourth Golden Horse award this year, was rewarded for her performance as a single mother struggling to raise her child in the 1960s, in the face of traditional constraints and the strains on their relationship when her daughter gets a boyfriend. Yang's performance switches expertly between suppressed emotion and passionate release, and the conflicts between mother and daughter are brought to vivid and realistic life.

Yang gave an emotional thank-you to the people who have continued to support her throughout the years, saying "I stayed strong, and didn't let defeat get me down, and finally I've lived up to your support and won. Thank you, filmmakers of Taiwan, for giving me these chances, and I hope you will continue to do so."

Now that the curtain has again fallen on the Golden Horse awards, from the way the awards panned out it looks as though Hong Kong is still top of the Chinese-language cinema world. Yang's speech brought the tenuous position of Taiwanese cinema back into the spotlight; in the face of the massive production values and blockbuster films of Hollywood, Taiwanese film needs to urgently address the problem of how to raise production standards and bring local audiences back to the cinemas.

To help with this, the Government Information Office (GIO) has established the Film Policy Review and Promotion Committee, hoping to rebuild Taiwan's film industry. At a press conference on December 2nd, the committee made public their comprehensive plan, policies, and goals.

Industry members have been unanimous in their suggestions, stating that the Taiwanese film industry has to build up its funding and create more varied scripts, in concert with improved promotion and marketing in order to recover from its current perilous position.

Amy Chang, committee member and director of Huei-chu Multimedia, believes that film is an inherently high-cost form of audiovisual creation, and the industry needs to give investors from other industries an incentive to "jump in" so that they can get the money issue sorted out first. The artistic and creative aspects will naturally flow from there.

To encourage businesses in the south of Taiwan to invest in local film, the GIO held a special conference in Kaohsiung in November 2004. Chou Pei-chi, director of the GIO's Department of Motion Pictures, points out that while investing in high-tech industry can cost billions, even tens of billions of NT Dollars, and can take years to show any profit, investing in film doesn't even cost 1% of that, and investors can see big profits in two to three years. Looking at Europe and America, the average return on investment from film is 400%, so it's clear that it can be a big money-spinner. And on the domestic front, since July of last year, companies like Dream Park, U-Tech Media, and BenQ have expressed an interest in investing in cinema.

In addition, the Taiwanese government has established the "Film Startup Fund," which will coordinate funding from the Executive Yuan and outside funders, with a ratio of 55% outside funding to 45% investment from the fund itself. The fund brings together investors from various industries as a single investment consultancy group, and will be responsible for evaluating TV and cinema production and marketing and setting investment ratios and budgetary ceilings.

The GIO is also working to attract overseas producers to Taiwan to make their own movies or work in cooperation with local talent. If any companies spend over US$1 million while filming in Taiwan and incorporate Taiwanese cast or crew members, they will be eligible to apply for financial assistance. If the movie goes on to win any international awards as a Taiwanese entry, they will also receive a prize of up to NT$50 million.

In addition to working on the investment and funding fronts, the GIO has also developed a new mechanism for the creative side of the process. Local director Wang Tung says that newcomers to the industry need opportunities for training; developing creative talents is like cutting diamonds, and if we can string together enough of them we'll end up with something truly amazing. He encourages new directors to not be put off by small budgets-they just need to take it step by step and look at it as building experience. With regard to new directors, the GIO plans to provide financial assistance of NT$1 million to each of ten short films produced each year, and NT$2 million to two full-length documentaries.

The rules about support for feature films are also being changed; the review criteria will primarily focus on the project's script, the professionalism of the production team, financial risk management, and marketing potential. The grants will be split into two groups: new directors, who will be eligible for NT$5 million, and established directors, who can receive up to NT$8 million. In order to maintain some form of equality of investment, the applicants will have to pony up NT$8 million in funds for production, which will be put under the management of a trust.

It is estimated that in its first year, this new method will help fund 15 films, and the plan is to increase this number by five a year, gradually working toward their goal of having a large number of films coming out, all at high quality.

Every part of the movie industry is interconnected, from production right down to marketing. The industry in Hollywood adopted the idea of making the whole process explicitly integrated over a decade ago. Professional marketers are involved in every step of the entire filmmaking process-they work on the selling points of the film, the creation and production of merchandise, and setting up media coverage for the film. By doing this, they develop more effective packaging for the movie and help it better reach its target audience.

According to Wang Tung, the Taiwanese cinema industry lacks any real grasp of marketing-and especially international marketing-so the whole process of film production is beset with problems. One example Wang cites is the critically applauded Japanese film Quill; with over 1 million people in Taiwan raising pets, Quill should be a sure-fire hit. If Taiwan had a good body of marketing professionals and they'd researched the market for animal films, "Even though they didn't make Quill, they'd still be able to make their own money-spinning animal flick."

Associate Professor Lin Wen-chi of National Central University's English department suggests that in future discussions of Taiwanese cinema, people should stop looking at it as something that needs "saving"-rather, the industry needs to start studying how to attract the audience and create a sense that not watching local films is "uncool." That'll get the younger people into the cinemas.

Most people agree that the key to reviving the audience numbers for Taiwanese films is attracting the youth audience, because for any form of culture to live on, the torch has to be passed to the next generation.

This is the first time the government has really begun to breathe life into the film industry by way of three particular tactics: creating a proactive support mechanism, developing a healthy production environment, and creating an integrated audiovisual platform for production. Once Taiwan gets a few big blockbuster films and really big stars of its own, you'd better believe that the "golden horse" of Taiwanese cinema will gallop back into the picture at full force.