1st ever Taiwanese Film Festival debuts this weekend at the Bliss

NICH in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) is hosting a two day film festival. It is a cultural exchange program that will open with a reception on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday the program will open to the general public, featuring cultural invitees and artists. Three films will be showcased including a drama, a king fu action film and a romantic comedy. While it’s the first to take place in the jewel, it is not the first time that Taiwanese films have been featured in the country. 

Kim Vasquez, Program Officer, ICA

Kim Vasquez

“There are three spectacular films; all of them have English subtitles…there is a romantic comedy, there is an action packed kung fu film and an Oscar nominated drama as well. And the show times are ten, three and seven p.m. so we are inviting the public to come out and enjoy.  Taiwan has, in the Belize International Film Festival, in the past participated and submitted films and they were not able to make the deadline this year. And so we welcome the idea of having a special Taiwan film festival. As you know just last week, Taiwan celebrated their national day, their 1010 and so the timing is excellent. And cultural exchange through film, I think it is a wonderful medium for people to sit down, enjoy, be entertained, but also learn about a different culture.”

David Wu

David Wu, Ambassador of Taiwan to Belize

“This is the first time ever that we are going to have this Taiwan Film Festival in Belize and we hope that it is a good try because in the past we have been putting our efforts trying to promote the culture exchange program with Belize through the collaboration with NICH. But in the past we focused on international ambassador; that we sponsor the Independence Day every year. And we also invite Doctor Awe, he is the visiting professor to lecture in Taiwan’s most famous university; the National Taiwan University.  In Taiwan, there are many, many movie goers; it is very popular in Taiwan…this recreation and entertainment for fans, but it also contains the college exchange. We hope that through the presentation of the three films, we hope that our Belizean friends would have a better understanding about the culture in Taiwan because the film making is an integration of many arts including screenplay, costume, soundtrack, music. I think most important is that it wants to tell a story.”