"People are never going to learn anything if you bore them to death," says Liao Hsiang-hsiung, the new manager of the Taiwan Film Studio, an organisation founded by the government in 1945 to produce both feature movies and documentaries. "The new generation doesn't like to be indoctrinated; it likes to be entertained." This is no criticism of the studio in the past, Liao hastens to add. "In fact, the studio has produced a great number of fine films and developed many outstanding directors and movie stars. It has also won many awards in Asian film festivals and Golden Horse Awards of the Republic of China. You have only to think of such films as 'Poppy Flowers', 'Wu Feng' and 'Hsi Shih' to know that this is true. I'm just expressing my own philosophy of movie making."

Asked about his present projects, Liao stated that his biggest effort this coming year will be to make a movie about the Taiwan railroads. This year is the centenary of Chinese railroading, and a movie about railroading in Taiwan seems appropriate. "But I know what you're thinking," he says. "You are wondering how the story of a railroad can be that interesting. Well, we're not going to tell the story in terms of the electrification of the railways, electricity replacing coal and diesel power. We're not going to talk about how comfortable and air-conditioned most trains are, though they are. We're not going to give statistics about the great growth in railway mileage these past few years. Those facts are all right for experts and professionals in the railway business; they can read about them in brochures and reports. What we are going to do is to tell the story of the Taiwan railways in human terms. The history of the Taiwan railways was made by people, and we're going to tell that history by focusing on people. Do you realize how many unpublicized heroes exist who risked and sometimes gave their lives in building the railroads through our mountains? Do you realize the contributions other staff members have made, some of them extremely dramatic? Passengers, too, have done heroic and funny things. So that's the Story we're going to tell, not only the history of the railways, but the hardship of building them and the drama of running them. Our working title is 'Trains Running North' but that may change."

Asked about other projects of the Taiwan Film Studio, Liao mentioned that an important function of the studio is making documentaries for use on the three Taiwan television stations. Here again, he wants to do in-depth reporting based on stories of common life. It is his hope that this kind of treatment will attract bigger audiences and as a result, fulfil the functions of "entertaining, informing, and educating" that television is supposed to do. The Taiwan Film Studio seems to getting as its new chief not only a person with many years of experience in directing and in theoretical research, but also a person with a burning desire to attract and hold audiences. And that is the name of the game in filmmaking.

One Good Film is Worth Ten Thousand Reports.

One Good Film is Worth Ten Thousand Reports.