As the Festival de Cannes and Marché du Film began yesterday, Taiwan joined the glittering Croisette with two co-produced films: The Settlers, selected for Un Certain Regard and Tiger Stripes for Semaine de la Critique. Taiwanese producers and projects are taking part in the Marché du Film initiatives Spotlight Asia, impACT Lab, Cannes Docs and more, while 45 film companies with 105 projects are represented at the Taiwan pavilion in the market.
Industry professionals from all over the world gather at Marché du Film.
Both The Settlers and Tiger Stripes head to Cannes competing for awards. Each was supported by the International Co-Funding Program from Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA). The Settlers, the debut feature from Chilean Felipe Gálvez, deals with the country’s colonial past. It is an eight-country co-production with Taiwan’s Volos Films, with sound mixing and foley work by Cannes award-winner Tu Duu-Chih and Tu Tse-Kang. In the parallel section, Semaine de la Critique, Tiger Stripes, the highly anticipated debut from Malaysian Amanda Nell Eu, was co-produced by Taiwan’s Flash Forward Entertainment, with VFX supported by Renovatio Pictures and post-production by Taipei Postproduction.
Taiwan features in several initiatives at the Marché du Film. Marché’s first-ever Spotlight Asia program, of which TAICCA is an official partner, aims to foster greater exchange and co-production opportunities between producers from Europe and Asia. With its strong market potential in the post-pandemic environment, creatives from Asia are making a sizable impact on the international film circuit.
Images of Taiwan Cinema are displayed around the market’s hot spots.
TAICCA is also partnering with impACT Lab, another Marché initiative, with masterclasses and round tables on international collaboration and with today’s changing social and cinematic climate in mind. Two Taiwanese producers, Susan Huang and Ivy Yu-Hua Shen, will join fellow producers from Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, and Trinidad and Tobago, who are all committed to international co-productions.
The feature-length documentary project Island of the Winds, from Taiwanese director Hsu Ya-Ting, will be pitched by its producer Huang Yin-Yu at Cannes Docs, a Marché initiative. The project is the result of over 20 years documenting the Losheng Sanatorium relocation controversy and charts an important phase in Taiwan’s democratic movement. The team aims to connect with decision makers, international documentary festivals, channels and markets to expand the project’s reach.
After collecting three awards at HAF in March, Salli, Lien Chien-hung’s debut feature is included in HAF Goes to Cannes. Asian immigrant story, Chopin, will take the stage at Producers’ Pitching Their Projects, part of Cannes Next, the platform connecting content with the future of business and technological innovation. The crime novel, Before We Were Monsters by Katniss HSIAO, marks the first time an original Taiwanese book has been selected to the official Marché’s Shoot the Book! Pitches Session. The Grayhawk Agency will pitch to potential international production companies and producers seeking future projects.
Homme Tsai, Chairperson of TAICCA says that proactive partnering with international organizations and institutions in recent years has led to the demonstrable presence of Taiwanese projects and talent at partnered initiatives across the Marché. TAICCA is committed to furthering such partnerships in areas that include new market development, talent cultivation and global networking, together raising the international competitiveness of Taiwan cinema. Through this deep engagement he hopes more Taiwanese content will be business ready for international markets.
The Taiwan Pavilion welcomes buyers and professionals with 100+ latest films & projects.
A wide variety of the latest Taiwanese films and projects will be presented in the Taiwan Pavilion at the Palais des Festivals. Notable titles include Be With Me by art director turned director Hwarng Wern-Ying, a long time collaborator of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, who is also the executive producer; Day Off, freshly awarded Best Script at the Udine Far East Film Festival; Berlin Generation title Tomorrow Is A Long Time; Lost In Perfection, a live action feature from Sung Hsin-Yin, following her animation feature On Happiness Road; and the Venice Production Bridge project Who’ll Stop The Rain.