The feature “Tales of Taipei” is a tribute to the low-pressure, culturally rich city, which has been shaped by its regional neighbors, taken in diverse peoples and distilled the multiple competing influences into a messy, happy-go-lucky morass.
Produced by Bowie Tsang and Amy Ma, the film calls on 10 directors hailing from Malaysia, France, Bhutan and Hong Kong, and Taiwanese locals Yin Cheng-han and Remii Huang to contribute.
“Everything is possible in Taiwan, everything exits side by side,” says Tsang, who was born in Hong Kong. “We have old Chinese myths. We believe in the afterlife. Churches exist side by side with temples. We are still trying to figure out how to tell our stories.”
As in the film, juxtapositions exist throughout the Taiwan film industry. Theatrical B.O. improved last year, but from a low 2022 base. Last year, Taiwan productions increased market share from 10% to nearly 16%, helping to lift the...
Produced by Bowie Tsang and Amy Ma, the film calls on 10 directors hailing from Malaysia, France, Bhutan and Hong Kong, and Taiwanese locals Yin Cheng-han and Remii Huang to contribute.
“Everything is possible in Taiwan, everything exits side by side,” says Tsang, who was born in Hong Kong. “We have old Chinese myths. We believe in the afterlife. Churches exist side by side with temples. We are still trying to figure out how to tell our stories.”
As in the film, juxtapositions exist throughout the Taiwan film industry. Theatrical B.O. improved last year, but from a low 2022 base. Last year, Taiwan productions increased market share from 10% to nearly 16%, helping to lift the...
- 5/14/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Berlin: Taiwan’s ‘Shambhala,’ ‘Sleep With Your Eyes Open’ Producers Join Forces for Film, TV Venture
Two Taiwan-based production companies with features in this week’s Berlin Film Festival have joined forces to launch new venture, Long Hu Bao × An Attitude.
Taiwan’s Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao International Entertainment, is one of eight co-producers on main competition film “Shambhala,” from Nepal’s Min Bahadur Bham.
Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao is also one of three co-producers on Brazilian title “Sleep With Your Eyes Open” (aka “Dormir de olhos abertos”) directed by Nele Wohlatz, which debuts in Berlin’s Encounters section.
While the two companies will remain legally separate, the collaboration also brings together Lee Lieh, Roger Huang, and Justine O., three of Taiwan’s most experienced producers. They aim to continue their expansion into international co-productions and span both film and TV.
“We see it as three generations of producers becoming a strong alliance that joins together the resources of Asia – Edward Yang’s Taiwanese new wave,...
Taiwan’s Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao International Entertainment, is one of eight co-producers on main competition film “Shambhala,” from Nepal’s Min Bahadur Bham.
Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao is also one of three co-producers on Brazilian title “Sleep With Your Eyes Open” (aka “Dormir de olhos abertos”) directed by Nele Wohlatz, which debuts in Berlin’s Encounters section.
While the two companies will remain legally separate, the collaboration also brings together Lee Lieh, Roger Huang, and Justine O., three of Taiwan’s most experienced producers. They aim to continue their expansion into international co-productions and span both film and TV.
“We see it as three generations of producers becoming a strong alliance that joins together the resources of Asia – Edward Yang’s Taiwanese new wave,...
- 2/20/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Taiwan International Co-Funding Program (Ticp) from Taiwan Creative Content Agency (Taicca) continues to make an impact at the 74th Berlinale. Black Tea and Shambhala enter the main competition, while Sleep With Your Eyes Open competes at Encounters. Festival veteran Tsai Ming-Liang scored two official selections with his latest documentary Abiding Nowhere in Berlinale Special and The Wayward Cloud at Berlinale Classics Special.
Black Tea is Abderrahmane Sissako's follow up feature after Timbuktu with Taiwan as a key location and two Taiwanese actors Chang Han from A Brighter Summer Day and Wu Ke-Xi of Nina Wu playing alongside Nina Mélo in this cross-cultural romance. The film also received investment from Kaohsiung Film Fund.
Also in the main competition is Shambhala, the second feature from Nepal's Min Bahadur Bham, which sees a woman journey across the Himalayas to prove her innocence. Liao Ching-Sung and Roger Huang are two executive producers from...
Black Tea is Abderrahmane Sissako's follow up feature after Timbuktu with Taiwan as a key location and two Taiwanese actors Chang Han from A Brighter Summer Day and Wu Ke-Xi of Nina Wu playing alongside Nina Mélo in this cross-cultural romance. The film also received investment from Kaohsiung Film Fund.
Also in the main competition is Shambhala, the second feature from Nepal's Min Bahadur Bham, which sees a woman journey across the Himalayas to prove her innocence. Liao Ching-Sung and Roger Huang are two executive producers from...
- 2/16/2024
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Nele Wohlatz’s “Sleep With Your Eyes Open,” which has its world premiere in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival, has debuted its trailer (below). Rediance has taken world sales rights.
Wohlatz’s fiction debut “El futuro perfecto” won Locarno’s Golden Leopard for the best first feature in 2016, and was invited to more than 70 international film festivals.
“Sleep With Your Eyes Open,” which is described as “a quiet comedy of misunderstandings,” is set in a coastal city in Brazil. Kai arrives from Taiwan for a holiday with a broken heart. She meets Fu Ang, who could become a friend, but then disappears.
While looking for him, Kai discovers the story of Xiaoxin and a group of Chinese workers living in a skyscraper. Kai finds her own experience strangely mirrors that of Xiaoxin’s story. Over the course of a hot, slow summer, delicate bonds grow between them.
Wohlatz’s fiction debut “El futuro perfecto” won Locarno’s Golden Leopard for the best first feature in 2016, and was invited to more than 70 international film festivals.
“Sleep With Your Eyes Open,” which is described as “a quiet comedy of misunderstandings,” is set in a coastal city in Brazil. Kai arrives from Taiwan for a holiday with a broken heart. She meets Fu Ang, who could become a friend, but then disappears.
While looking for him, Kai discovers the story of Xiaoxin and a group of Chinese workers living in a skyscraper. Kai finds her own experience strangely mirrors that of Xiaoxin’s story. Over the course of a hot, slow summer, delicate bonds grow between them.
- 2/11/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever (“Banel & Adama”) has acquired international rights to “Shambhala,” the first Nepalese film to premiere in competition at the Berlinale or any other top film festival.
Directed by Min Bahadur Bham, “Shambhala” is also the first South Asian film to be selected in Berlinale’s competition lineup after three decades. Bham is best known for his feature debut, “Kalo Pothi,” which won a prize at Venice Critics’ Week in 2015. The helmer previously directed “Bansulli,” which was Nepal’s first selection at the Venice Film Festival in 2012.
“Shambhala” is set in a Himalayan polyandrous village in Nepal, where a newly married and pregnant woman, Pema, tries to make the best of her new life. But soon, her husband Tashi vanishes, prompting her to embark on a journey into the wilderness to find him, accompanied by her monk.
The film shot in the world’s highest settlement, located...
Directed by Min Bahadur Bham, “Shambhala” is also the first South Asian film to be selected in Berlinale’s competition lineup after three decades. Bham is best known for his feature debut, “Kalo Pothi,” which won a prize at Venice Critics’ Week in 2015. The helmer previously directed “Bansulli,” which was Nepal’s first selection at the Venice Film Festival in 2012.
“Shambhala” is set in a Himalayan polyandrous village in Nepal, where a newly married and pregnant woman, Pema, tries to make the best of her new life. But soon, her husband Tashi vanishes, prompting her to embark on a journey into the wilderness to find him, accompanied by her monk.
The film shot in the world’s highest settlement, located...
- 1/24/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
China-based sales agent Rediance has boarded Nele Wohlatz’s Sleep With Your Eyes Open and Huang Shuli’s short Goodbye First Love, ahead of their premieres at the Berlinale next month.
Sleep With Your Eyes Open will play in the festival’s competitive Encounters section, which was announced today. The comedy is set in a coastal city in Brazil over one hot summer, during which bonds grow between a heartbroken traveller from Taiwan, a man who runs an umbrella store and a woman who used to live in the city.
The cast combines newcomers with professional actors, including Wang Shin-Hong...
Sleep With Your Eyes Open will play in the festival’s competitive Encounters section, which was announced today. The comedy is set in a coastal city in Brazil over one hot summer, during which bonds grow between a heartbroken traveller from Taiwan, a man who runs an umbrella store and a woman who used to live in the city.
The cast combines newcomers with professional actors, including Wang Shin-Hong...
- 1/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
Paris-based sales outfit Totem Films has acquired “A Song Sung Blue,” by Chinese director Zihan Geng, and “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry,” from Georgian filmmaker Elene Naveriani. Both films will premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival.
“A Song Sung Blue” is the feature debut of the Beijing-born Geng. The coming-of-age story follows 15-year-old Xian, who’s left in the care of her estranged father, a struggling photographer, after her mother is compelled to travel to Africa for work. Over the course of a restless summer, Xian befriends 18-year-old Mingmei, the daughter of his father’s assistant-turned-girlfriend, and soon finds herself looking up to the older girl.
Driven by the ignorance and impulse of youth, their friendship will leave an unforgettable mark on the young girl’s life, a journey that “we follow to retrieve the memories of that distant part of our own youth,” according to Geng.
“A Song Sung Blue” is the feature debut of the Beijing-born Geng. The coming-of-age story follows 15-year-old Xian, who’s left in the care of her estranged father, a struggling photographer, after her mother is compelled to travel to Africa for work. Over the course of a restless summer, Xian befriends 18-year-old Mingmei, the daughter of his father’s assistant-turned-girlfriend, and soon finds herself looking up to the older girl.
Driven by the ignorance and impulse of youth, their friendship will leave an unforgettable mark on the young girl’s life, a journey that “we follow to retrieve the memories of that distant part of our own youth,” according to Geng.
- 4/18/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
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