The Taiwan Film Institute held a Taiwan Cinema Night on the beach of Plage Royale during the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, attracting roughly 400 people from the international film industry and media.
This year, the short film "Towards the Sun (迎向邊疆公路)” by Taiwanese student Wang Yi-ling (王逸鈴) was part of the official Cannes competition under the Cinefondation category.
Taiwan-based Malaysian director Lau Kek-huat (廖克發) had also been invited to participate in the festival's Producers Workshop with his feature film project "A Love of Boluomi (波羅蜜的愛).”
"A Love of Boluomi” is Lau's first feature film project. He had previously participated in the 2015 Producers Workshop with the project, and went on to win awards at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Project Promotion initiated by France's National Center of Cinematography in 2016.
The party, which was kicked off by Taiwan's representative to France Zhang Ming-zhong (張銘忠), was joined by Lau and his producer Stefano Centini. Taiwan's up-and-coming director Lee Yen-ju (李晏如) and actress Hsieh Ying-hsuan (謝盈萱) also joined the event to introduce Lee's latest film "To Pluto (冥王星圖),” which will be showcased at the Cannes film market this year.
Raymond Wong Pak-ming (黃百鳴), a renowned Hong Kong actor, director, and producer who produced the celebrated "Happy Ghost (開心鬼)” franchise, also made a surprise appearance at the party that night.
The Taiwan Cinema Night this year brought together heavyweight film committee members, including those for the Cannes Film Festival, Berlinale, Venice Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Film Festival of the 3 Continents, and BFI London Film Festival.
The party was also joined by international film production companies, including Acrobates Film, CMC Pictures, SDP Stardust Pictures, Sony Pictures, Five Star Production, Toho Co., Ltd., and Shochiku Company Limited.
In addition, representatives of film institutions - including those based in Belgium, France, Holland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Slovakia, and the United States - all made an effort to join this year's Taiwan Cinema Night.
Over 20 Taiwan film companies as well as film professionals networked and forged new collaborative opportunities at the event.