The media hysteria set off in Taiwan by Ang Lee’s second Academy Award for Best Director will take some time to die down. Because Lee is proud to be from Taiwan, and “Life of Pi” was shot primarily on the island, there are widespread expectations that his fame could bring major business opportunities and a shot in the arm for Taiwan’s motion picture industry.
As Lee’s many honors give him carte blanche in the international ethnic Chinese community, and he is interested in making another authentic Taiwan movie, the goal for the Ministry of Culture and film sector should be to convince him to lead a collaborative project involving local young film workers and Western high-tech, making several movies that would be popular on both sides of the strait.
In 2008 the success of Wei Te-sheng’s “Cape No. 7” led to a series of blockbusters surpassing NT$100 million (US$3.37 million) at the box office, including “Monga,” “Black & White Episode 1: The Dawn of Assault,” “Night Market Hero,” “Din Tao: Leader of the Parade,” “You Are the Apple of My Eye,” “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale,” “Love” and “David Loman.”
The cruel reality, however, is that the average person in Taiwan sees just one movie a year, and 90 percent of the films watched are from Hollywood. Although the market value of domestic flicks climbed from NT$200 million in 2007 to NT$1.3 billion in 2011, it still accounted for only 20 percent of the overall NT$7.5 billion market, with export value of only NT$100 million.
The problems besetting Taiwan’s movie industry are well-known: domestic demand is too small to support major productions; the focus is on arty themes with no mass market appeal; and there is no platform to bring investors and producers together, making it hard to raise funds.
Moreover, opportunities for international collaboration are lacking, hampering any breakthrough into the global market; directors, screenwriters and other talent continue to leave for greener pastures; and the movie audience is dwindling due to the rise of cable TV and the Internet, along with widespread pirating.
One might just give in to the principles of international trade and admit that if Taiwan cannot produce a superior product with lower overhead, it might as well just import movies. But in terms of industry development, market value alone cannot reflect the film sector’s importance.
When the great range of work it encompasses—from production, animation, special effects, captions, editing, format conversion, releases, distribution, copyright trading, video production and movie theater operations—reaches a certain scale, development is stimulated in related creative sectors such as TV, comics, design, dance and apparel.
If Taiwan can get a foothold in the gigantic mainland Chinese market, where the motion picture industry is 100 times larger, it would then be in reach of the global stage. Under the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) of 2010, Taiwan’s films are no longer subject to Beijing’s annual restrictions on the number of foreign films; any movie that is good enough has a chance at huge earnings across the Taiwan Strait.
For Taiwan filmmakers accustomed to democratic freedoms, the greatest constraint in the mainland Chinese market is censorship. If they do not adjust carefully to the many “rules,” “notifications” and “supplementary regulations”—not actually laws—their works may be banned or otherwise punished, at great financial cost.
Despite this drawback, the mainland Chinese market remains the best bet for revitalizing Taiwan’s movie sector, given the small domestic market and insufficient internationalization. A collaborative project headed by Lee could be just the ticket. (THN)
(This commentary originally appeared in the Economic Daily News Feb. 28, 2013.)