ISLAND VIEW
The Taipei Film Festival has set “A Journey in Spring” as the Taiwan flagbearer in its international competition section. Directed by Peng Tzu-hui and Wang Ping-wen, the film was shot on Super 16 mm film stock and stars King Jieh-wen and Yang Kuei-mei. The festival runs June 21-July 6 at the Zhongshan Hall, Vieshow Cinema Xinyi and SPOT-Huashan Cinemas.
Its other competition titles include: “Beyond the Fog,” by Murase Daichi; “Brief History of a Family,” by Lin Jianjie; “Encounters,” by Dmitry Moiseev; “The Featherweight,” by Robert Kolodny; “Foremost by Night,” by Víctor Iriarte; “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person,” by Ariane Louis-Seize; “My Sunshine,” by Okuyama Hiroshi; “Scream,” by Kenzhebek Shaikakov; and “Who Do I Belong To,” by Meryam Joobeur.
The winners of the new talent competition will be decided by a jury that is headed by mainland Chinese director and multiple Berlinale Silver Bear winner Wang Xiaoshuai. Other jurors include Taiwan actor and director Kai Ko, festival selector, Lim Cheng-Sim, Laha Mebow, the director who won the 2016 Taipei Film Award Grand Prize for “Lokah Laqi” and Sadai Yuji, producer on “Drive My Car.”
NOT SELLING THIS EITHER
Bytedance, the Chinese tech firm that owns TikTok and its mainland equivalent Douyin, says that it will not after all be selling its Moonton games unit. The company had previously said that it was looking to dispose of the unit, but has instead opted for a change of leadership, and appointed Zhang Yunfan as its new CEO. Zhang, a former executive at Perfect World, replaces Mooton’s founder and co-CEO Yuan Jing.
Now considered as a separate business unit within Bytedance, Moonton is preparing to launch “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” in mainland China later this year, with over 8 million pre-registrations to date.
Bytedance is currently resisting pressure from the U.S. government to forcibly divest TikTok.
CATCHY SELECTION
The second edition of mini-festival Eye Catcher Global is to be held in Hong Kong, June 19-23 June. The event is presented by Eye Catcher Images and Renaissance Foundation, with backing from the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
The event endevors to incubate and promote more indie films with unique visions, strong personal styles, and hybrid approaches. In addition to two core competitions exclusively for filmmakers, other screenings are open to the general public.
Julian Rejl, artistic director of the Directors’ Fortnight will chair the jury panel for the Asian new director competition and host a talk session in which he will urge young filmmakers to be future-forward.
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