Officials and filmmakers were on hand in Taipei on Tuesday to hail the Taiwan Creative Content Fest as a springboard for local and Asian creators to enter the world stage.
“We have great ambitions for TCCF in the coming years,” said Sue Wang, vice minister at Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture. She spoke at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, a new venue in a high-tech eastern suburb of Taiwan’s capital. The event will take place from November 5 to 8 and is supported by government-affiliated agency Taiwan Creative Content Agency.
According to Homme Tsai, chairman of TAICCA, a substantial sum – approximately NT7.5 million ($235,000) – is being offered as prizes for the pitching event that is the centerpiece of the project. “People will contact each other and say – ‘show me the money, let’s work together,’” Tsai said.
Money was also a theme for the State Secretary. “TCCF has grown from a modest past, from a relatively small exhibition platform and market, into one of the leading B2B events in the world. This really underlines the importance we have placed on the content creation industry, and not just at home. but all over the world, Wang said.
“We hope to create momentum so that ultimately the private sector can drive the momentum. Money can’t buy everything, but it can set something in motion. And we hope that the incentives [provided by TAICCA] will enable Taiwanese creatives to tell their stories on the world stage,” she said.
Beyond the formalities on stage, which also included a formal inauguration ending with a laser show, TAICCA CEO Dr. Lu Jiun Wei present to provide further details of the strategy.
“We already have good stories and topics from locals in Taiwan, but what we need to improve is storytelling. We wanted to learn the international ways of storytelling so that we can promote and push Taiwanese local content in the international market. That is why we are trying to attract more international co-production and co-financing,” he said Variety.
Taiwan has been raising its profile within the East Asian film and TV production scene in recent years, thanks in part to funding and structural efforts from the Taiwanese authorities, its financial support and agencies such as TAICCA. And multinational media groups have turned to Taiwan as companies in Hong Kong and mainland China have become more complicated to work with.
Lu discussed the creative forces of democratically governed Taiwan. “These things come from the stories here in Taiwan. We have the various topics here, such as BL [‘boys love’] and girls love. These topics are not allowed to be presented in China. We are talking to our international partners because these unique topics only exist in Taiwan,” Lu said. “This diversity of topics and the creative freedom to tell those stories would be Taiwan’s strengths.”
This year’s TCCF is home to more than 100 market stalls, up from 90 last year. The pitching event received submissions from more than 600 projects from over 50 countries and territories.