Because the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) concludes its fifth edition, the event has reaffirmed its role as a major platform for the creative industry on the island – and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
With a concentrate on collaboration and cultural representation, TCCF 2024 delivered to light three key trends that reflect Taiwan’s evolving position in the worldwide entertainment landscape.
International Collaboration Takes Center Stage
A outstanding theme at this yr’s TCCF was the increasing concentrate on international co-productions. Industry leaders gathered to debate the practicalities and benefits of cross-border partnerships, each locally inside southeast Asia and far farther afield. For instance, Oscar-winning production company Fabula (“A Improbable Woman”), the Chilean production house founded by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín and Venice Critics’ Week Grand Prize winner Tana Gilbert (“Malqueridas”), is developing “Where Is Narumi?“, a documentary series examining the 2016 killing of Japanese student Kurosaki Narumi by her ex-partner Nicolás Zepeda. A Chilean-French co-production with significant ties to Japan, the project was looking for funding and potential Japanese creative input.
A packed session on Latin America‘s evolving audiovisual landscape highlighted potential opportunities for Taiwanese firms to collaborate with overseas producers, noting significant growth in Asian content consumption across the region. In keeping with market studies presented, over 60% of young people in Latin America have watched not less than one K-drama series or anime prior to now yr, with Asian content consumption increasing by 35% within the last two years.
Governments within the Southeast Asia region claim to acknowledge the importance of the creative economy for each its employment and trickle-down economic advantages and for its soft power and national branding benefits. That recognition has led many so as to add or improve their soft money sources, with most of the latest financial pools specifically encouraging cross-border coproduction. Officials from Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan all made presentations.
Taiwanese creators are also increasingly recognizing the importance of adapting local stories for international markets. Discussions highlighted the necessity for narratives that resonate universally while retaining their local essence. On the event’s opening Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) CEO Dr. Lu Jiun Wei told Variety, “We have already got good stories and topics in Taiwan from the local people, but what we want to enhance is storytelling. We would like to learn the international ways of storytelling, in order that we are able to promote and push Taiwanese local content to the international market. That’s why we’re attempting to attract more international co-production and co-funding.”
Creative Freedom Fuels Innovation
A noticeable accent at TCCF was the emphasis on creative freedom that the Taiwanese film industry enjoys compared with those of its near neighbors Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, which endure intrusive censorship, government-mandated script approval systems or other curbs. Filmmakers expressed their appreciation for the artistic liberties they enjoy, which permit for experimentation with various genres and themes.
Lu talked up democratically-run Taiwan’s creative strengths. “This stuff come from the stories here in Taiwan. Now we have the various topics here, like BL [‘boys love’] and girls love. Those topics should not allowed to be presented in China. We talk with our international partners because these unique topics can only present in Taiwan,” Lu said. “This diversity of topics and the creative freedom to inform those stories could be the strengths of Taiwan.”
The dearth of content-driven (and company) regulation has helped Taiwan, not mainland China or Hong Kong, turn out to be the hub of Chinese-language content investments and production commissions of international equivalent to Netflix.1
“Freedom is our opportunity. In Taiwan, we’ve got the creative freedom to inform and explore different stories, genres, and kinds of narratives,” Hsiao Ya-Chuan, director of “Old Fox,” Taiwan‘s submission for the 97th Academy Awards international feature race, told Variety. “Nevertheless, the challenge is that we’ve got a limited domestic market. That’s why we want international markets. To appeal to broader audiences, we should always reach out to different continents and regions, including northeast Asia, southeast Asia, Europe, America, and lots of others. Because of this, we are able to gain a bigger market.”
Taiwanese Actors Making Waves Internationally
Following on from the coproduction and international commissioning movement, Taiwan’s leading actors are having fun with increased visibility. The TCCF event showcased their experiences in breaking into global markets, which while increasing their profiles, also include cultural challenges and opportunities.
Speaking at a star-studded TCCF panel local heartthrob J.C. Lin, fresh from a Taiwan-French co-production accomplished six months ago, highlighted the cultural contrasts in communication styles. “In Taiwan, the Chinese culture we would like to hearken to other people before expressing our own opinion,” Lin observed. Lin also recounted an enlightening experience from Taiwan-India co-production “Demon Hunters,” where an Indian actor taught him about treating religious props with proper respect. Kai Ko, one other panelist, has lost his profession in mainland China, where he’s now banned for a past drug offence.
Actor Wu Ke-Xi was delighted that her contract for Constance Tsang’s Cannes-debuting U.S. production “Blue Sun Palace” included a clause allowing her to revoke intimate scenes until the day of release.
But, the Taiwan actor making the most important splash in the mean time is veteran Lee Kang-sheng. Known for a succession of art pictures by Taiwan-based Malaysian director Tsai Ming-liang, Lee was recently seen in Chinese-language U.S. picture “Blue Sun Palace” and Taiwanese-French-Singaporean co-production “Stranger Eyes,” which debuted in competition in Venice and this week also played because the opening title of Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Horse Film Festival. He’ll next be seen in one other co-production “Black Ox,” by mainland Chinese auteur Qiu Jiongjiong.
