MOFA Deputy Minister Paul Wen-liang Chang (center, left), officials, judges and winners of the ministry-organized Trending Taiwan Short Film Competition pose after the awards ceremony Nov. 8 in Taipei City. (Staff photo/Chuang Kung-ju)
The winners of the 2017 Trending Taiwan Short Film Competition were honored at an awards ceremony Nov. 8 in Taipei City.
Organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the annual competition invites filmmakers to create short videos in order to give the world a glimpse of the beauty of Taiwan and its people.
The third edition of the awards received 114 entries, with 12 selected as winners. The first, second and third-place submissions were screened at the ceremony, while all winning films will be showcased on Trending Taiwan’s YouTube channel with English subtitles.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, MOFA Deputy Minister Paul Wen-liang Chang said the competition highlights the ministry’s role in introducing Taiwan to the international community. The MOFA is working to present the nation via new media, Chang said, adding that the variety of films submitted to the competition helps showcase the country’s diversity.
The deputy minister cited the MOFA-backed Trending Taiwan YouTube channel and Facebook page, which were launched in 2015, as important platforms for showcasing the culture, environment and people of Taiwan. He said around 500 video clips relating to the country can be seen on the YouTube channel—including winning films from the last two years of the competition—which has accumulated 8.1 million views so far.
“Many topics were addressed in this year’s submissions, which presented various stories of local people,” said Chen Ching-ho, one of the four competition judges and vice president of Taipei’s Shih Hsin University. He said the winning films all demonstrate great production technique and feature complete narrative structures and moving storylines.
First place and the top prize of NT$200,000 (US$6,628) went to four-person production team TheONE. Their winning submission revolves around Taiwan’s only mobile post office, which operates in Yuli Township of eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County.
A video clip telling the story of a 95-year-old doctor and another that chronicles the journey of an Indonesian caregiver as she pursues her dream of becoming a professional illustrator shared second place and each received NT$50,000. Three entries earned third place and prizes of NT$20,000; while another six films took home honorable mentions, which come with an award of NT$10,000 each. (CPY-E)
