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The 27th Taipei Film Festival is set to open on June 20. On June 6, the festival announced the highly anticipated host and presenter lineup for the Taipei Film Awards ceremony. Multitalented performer Esther Liu—renowned for her achievements in singing, acting, and hosting—will serve as the host. Five presenter pairings, each combining popularity and talent, were also unveiled, promising a glamorous and captivating night.

Taking on the role of host for a major awards ceremony for the first time, Esther Liu expressed her excitement: “It’s truly an honor to be the host, and I will give it my all!” Since her debut as a teen, Liu has continuously challenged herself throughout her career. She noted, “Hosting is like acting in a different form,” underscoring her unwavering passion for performing regardless of the role. With the focus of an actor and the charm of a host, she is set to...

Netflix has set Taiwanese drama series “Forget You Not,” directed by multi-hyphenate talent Rene Liu, who steps behind the camera after establishing herself as one of Taiwan’s premier actress-singers.

The drama features an ensemble cast featuring Golden Horse Award-winning actress Hsieh Ying-xuan, veteran actor Chin Han, Tracy Chou and Esther Liu (“At the Moment”). The series also benefits from special appearances by Wallace Huo (“Light the Night”), Wang Po-chieh (“Eye of the Storm”) and Chen Yi-wen.

Set against the backdrop of a bustling metropolis, “Forget You Not” delves into the powerful role of memory within family dynamics. The narrative centers on Cheng Le-le (Hsieh), a stand-up comedian moonlighting as a convenience store employee who struggles to balance her career ambitions with her marriage. While harboring dreams of a brighter future, she navigates complex relationships with her husband Chang Kai (Huo) and her father Cheng Kuang-chi (Chin Han). These challenges...

At the Taiwan Creative Content Fest, leading Taiwanese actors Wu Ke-Xi, J.C. Lin, Kai Ko, and Esther Liu offered candid insights into their experiences working on international co-productions, discussing everything from language barriers to cultural differences in approaching intimate scenes.

Wu shared her experience working on Berlinale title “Black Tea” with director Abderrahmane Sissako, describing the unique challenges of a French-language production. “The director only had a rough script and wanted to incorporate the actors’ ideas,” Wu explained. The production, shot in Taiwan and Africa, required constant translation between French and Chinese, sometimes leading to cultural disconnects. Wu, who previously learned Burmese and Thai for Midi Z’s “Road to Mandalay,” also studied the local version of Portuguese for her role as a Chinese restaurant owner in Cape Verde, though those lines were ultimately cut.

Discussing contract negotiations, Wu revealed her proactive approach to dealings in the U.S. “The...

Sundance Asia has officially kicked off in Taipei, Taiwan.

Over the next five days, 15 feature films and six shorts will screen at the Sundance Film Festival Asian edition, with Taiwanese American filmmaker Sean Wang’s “Didi” as the opening night selection.

Before Wang’s film (which won the audience award and a special jury prize for its ensemble at the Park City festival) made its Taiwan premiere, the Legacy Taipei played host to the opening ceremony gala. Hollywood creatives mingled with local filmmakers and actors: “Fancy Dance” producer Nina Yang Bongiovi, “Joker 2” cinematographer Lawrence Sher, “Porcelain War” director Brendan Bellomo, “Your Monster” director Caroline Lindy and producer Kayla Foster, Wang and Esther Liu, Chen Yi-Wen, Hank Chen and Aviis Zhong were just some of those in attendance.

With many having flown in from Toronto or Los Angeles, attendees swapped tips on jetlag survival. Wang and “Little Death” director Jack Begert...

Awards News

Hit crime thriller “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” received 13 nominations for the upcoming Taipei Film Festival’s Taipei Film Awards. These include nominations for best feature, best director, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actress, and best supporting actor. It was followed by “Old Fox” with ten nominations and “Big,” with eight.

The film tells the story of a gangster who discovers that he is only the country’s third most wanted criminal and, before he dies, sets out to eliminate those ranking above him.

The best film contenders are “Salli,” “Trouble Girl,” “Big,” “Old Fox” and “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon.”

The best actor nominees include Frederick Lee for “Fish Memories,” Bai Run-yin for “Old Fox,” Vic Chou for “Be With Me,” Ethan Juan for “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” and King Jieh-wen for “A Journey in Spring.” The best actress...

Feature debut of Yeh Tien-lun, “Night Market Hero” is a landmark for Taiwanese cinema. Apart from still being on the list of the highest grossing local films, more than 12 years after its release, it was also the first Taiwanese film to be shown in mainland China since the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement was signed on June 29, 2010.

Follow our tribute to Taiwanese by clicking on the image below

In the rather frantically moving, loud and bright 888 Market, the elections for the Union Leader are underway, with young and popular Ah-hua narrowly winning, despite the dirty tricks of rival Tsai Hung-kuei. Ah-hua is courageous, smart and tries to help everybody in need of help. A rivalry, however, between Madame Steak and the owner of Enjoy Large Fried Chicken, the most successful stall in the market, is full on, and neither of the two ladies are willing to let go. In the meantime,...

Screenworks Asia, the production subsidiary of Taiwan’s Catchplay, has acquired international sales rights to the horror anthology series Urban Horror and will present the show at this week’s Filmart in Hong Kong.

Directed by Jun-Hong Li, Bao-Zhong Chen, and Dan-Chi Huang, Urban Horror comprises 34 short episodes revolving around the mysterious, the unexplained, and the disturbed in six types of modern city scenes. Synopsis reads: In each episode, the audience will see a familiar face that could be an award-winning actor, a pop star, or an internet celebrity. They will discover the ultimate fear and thrill at places such as nightclubs, office buildings, and youth hostels, where you don’t see any ghosts, monsters, or supernatural powers.

The series will feature Austin Lin (Marry My Dead Body) and Ann Hsu (The Victims’ Game) alongside Meng-Po Fu (Taiwan Crime Stories) and Esther Liu (Light the Night...

Taipei-based Screenworks Asia has picked up innovative anthology series “Urban Horror” for international sales ahead of this week’s FilMart in Hong Kong.

Directed by Lee Chun-Hong, Chen Bao-Zhong and Huang Dan-Chi, a group of young and upcoming filmmakers, “Urban Horror” comprises 34 short episodes revolving around the mysterious, the unexplained and the disturbed.

They make use of six modern city settings, such as night clubs, office buildings, youth hostels and other places where ghosts and monsters are not normally found. The deliberately limited number of locations also enables the 34 short films to be re-packaged as six longer episodes.

In each episode, the audience will see a familiar face that could be an award-winning actor, a pop star, or an internet celebrity. These include Austin Lin (Taiwan’ Oscar selection “Marry My Dead Body”), Ann Hsu (“The Victims’ Game”) Fu Meng-Po (“Taiwan Crime Stories”) and Esther Liu (“Light the Night”).

The show,...

It was a weird year for Busan in terms of selection, particularly because this time, there were no definite masterpieces particularly among the Korean and Japanese titles, who are usually the source of this kind of films. At the same time, though, the industry seems to gradually pick up once more after the Covid impact, as one could find a really significant number of good and very good films in the selection, highlighting the progress of Asian cinema this year. Furthermore, the choice to focus on Indonesian cinema was an ideal one, considering that the future of Asian movies seems to lie, currently, somewhere among the Asean countries, particularly story-wise. Furthermore, the South Asian entries also were particularly strong this year, cementing what we just mentioned. Lastly, and in a trend that seems to be picking up during the last few years, the short selection seems even more interesting on occasion that the features…...

Considering how Asian family dramas screening in festivals around the world tend to be rather heavy in their presentation, it is always a pleasure to watch films such as “Salli”, a Taiwanese-French co-production, which takes a lighter, easier-to-watch approach towards the concept, headed by an impressive performance by its main lead, Esther Liu.

Salli is screening at Busan International Film Festival

Hui-Jun is a very beautiful 38-old woman, who is somewhat stuck in her chicken farm in a rural village in Taiwan, which she runs along with her younger brother, who is about to get married to his posh girlfriend. As the story begins, Xin-Ru, her niece, who has been living in Shanghai with her parents, comes to spend time with her aunt, with their relationship actually being more like a mother-daughter one. When her relatives claim that Hui-Jun, being unmarried, should not attend her brother’s wedding reception, she...

Taipei Film Festival is aiming to shine an international spotlight on Taiwanese actors through a new initiative, Top Talents, that will showcase nine actors including major stars Kai Ko and Chen Bolin.

Other actors selected for the initiative include Chen Yi-wen, who won a Golden Horse Award for A Sun; Taipei Film Award winners Hsu Wei-ning and Gingle Wang; Caitlin Fang who won best newcomer awards at both Golden Horse and Taipei Film Awards for American Girl; and Golden Bell Award regulars Hsueh Shih-ling, Esther Liu and Tseng Pei-yu.

Collaborating with Taiwan Creative Content Agency (Taicca), the festival drew up a longlist from more than one hundred actors who had won prizes at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards, Golden Bell Awards, which focus on TV production, and Taipei Film Awards.

The final list was selected by a committee of seven filmmakers including Taipei Film Festival director Li Ya-mei, executive producer Lee Lieh,...

Hong Kong’s Haf adds 15 Wip projects ahead of first in-person edition since 2019.

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society has announced 15 work-in-progress projects, completing the full line-up of the 21st Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF21).

A total of 43 projects will be presented at Haf, including 28 in-development projects announced last month, which is set to run from March 13-15 alongside the 27th Hong Kong Film & TV Market (Filmart). It will mark the first in-person edition for both events since pre-Covid 2019.

Scroll down for full list of projects

Emerging and established actors who lead the cast of the 15 Wip projects include Fish Liew,...

Singapore studio MM2 Asia and Fox Networks Group Asia are producing “Memory Eclipse,” a mini-series and movie inspired by the classic Chinese songs of Teresa Teng.

Teng was a Taiwan-born singer who was said to be have the best voice of her generation in Chinese. She also recorded in English and Japanese. She died in middle age in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 1995, but her repertoire and her image have remained popular.

The anthology series takes its cue from three of Teng’s songs: “Just Like Your Tenderness,” “I Only Care About You,” and, arguably her most famous, “The Moon Represents My Heart.” Each song inspires an individual story, which is are then connected to form the story arc.

The feature movie will be completed in the second quarter of 2020 and release before the series airs. It stars Yu Hua Sung, Cheryl Yang, Kaiser Chang, Esther Liu, J.C. Lin and Hsin-Ying Hsieh.

Fox Networks Group Asia will produce with Hong Kong producer John Chong and Taiwanese production outfit Winday Culture

Fox Networks Group Asia (Fnga) is teaming with Hong Kong producer John Chong and Taiwanese production outfit Winday Culture to produce a high-end mini-series based on the music of late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng.

The new anthology series, Memory Eclipse, will comprise five episodes, each with a different cast and storyline, based on one of Teng’s iconic songs. One of the most famous singers from the Chinese-speaking world, Teng was known for romantic ballads such as When Will You Return? and The Moon Represents My Heart.

Teresa Teng, one of the most famous Chinese-language singers from the 1970s and 1980s is to be the subject of “Memory Eclipse.” The anthology series is an expansion of the original productions slate at Fox Networks Group in Asia.

The five-part series is produced by former Media Asia executive and “Infernal Affairs” producer John Chong. It is set up at Winday Culture, a film production company from Teng’s native Taiwan.

Each episode will feature a different cast of characters, with a storyline inspired a Teng song. Production will take place in Taiwan and Thailand, where she died suddenly while traveling, age 42. Release is set for 2019.

The series is directed by Winday founder Charles Sun. Key cast members include Kaiser Chuang (“Maverick”), Esther Liu J.C. Lin Nikki Hsieh Alan Kuo and Teresa Daley (“Transformers: Age of Extinction”).

Teng is one of the best-known cultural exports from Taiwan. Performing mainly in Mandarin,...