Winners of the Trending Taiwan Short Film Competition, an annual competition organized by the Department of International Information Services under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were awarded at a ceremony Sept. 9 in Taipei City.
The sixth edition of the event, which seeks to showcase Taiwan’s distinctive qualities, saw 12 three-minute submissions selected from a 225-strong field falling under one of two categories: open and pandemic prevention.
The former category highlights films capturing inspiring moments or telling unique stories while the latter, newly added this year and featuring subcategories for local and foreign entrants, underscores Taiwan’s effective management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Total prize money amounted to NT$830,000 (US$28,350).
In the open category, “Taiwan—Where I want to be” by French director Florian Payrou took the top honor. The short portrays extraordinary features of the people and landscape by way of illustrating the country’s allure for the filmmaker.
“Taiwan Pride for the World” by Larry Tung and Hugo Chung claimed the first place among pandemic prevention’s local entries for emphasizing Taiwan’s singular ability to celebrate LGBT Pride on the strength of its success combatting coronavirus, while “No More Fears, Here in Taiwan” by Rio Ananta Perangin-Angin, an Indonesian student studying at National Cheng Kung University in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City, won in the foreign grouping for utilizing first-person perspective to demonstrate Taiwan’s COVID-19 response measures.
Presiding over the ceremony, MOFA Deputy Minister Harry Ho-Jen Tseng said the competition serves as a platform for spotlighting the country’s celluloid creativity while raising global awareness of Taiwan and its remarkable culture.
According to the MOFA, the awarded works will be subtitled in a variety of foreign languages for broadcast on the ministry’s Trending Taiwan Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts.
First launched in 2015, the Trending Taiwan Short Film Competition has attracted more than 600 submissions to date from nationals of countries around the world, including France, India, Malaysia and Switzerland. This year’s entries were assessed by a five-member panel using the criteria of narrative technique, script creativity, technical proficiency and theme appeal. (YCH-E)
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