Climate of Creativity and Coproduction

As the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) concludes its fifth edition, the event has reaffirmed its role as a significant platform for the creative industry on the island – and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

With a focus on collaboration and cultural representation, TCCF 2024 brought to light three key trends that reflect Taiwan’s evolving position in the global entertainment landscape.

International Collaboration Takes Center Stage
A prominent theme at this year’s TCCF was the increasing focus on international co-productions. Industry leaders gathered to discuss the practicalities and advantages of cross-border partnerships, both locally within southeast Asia and much farther afield. For example, Oscar-winning production company Fabula (“A Fantastic Woman”), the Chilean production house founded by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín and Venice Critics’ Week Grand Prize winner Tana Gilbert (“Malqueridas”), is developing “Where Is Narumi?“, a documentary series examining the 2016 killing of Japanese student Kurosaki Narumi by her ex-partner Nicolás Zepeda. A Chilean-French co-production with significant ties to Japan, the project was seeking funding and potential Japanese creative input.

A packed session on Latin America‘s evolving audiovisual landscape highlighted potential opportunities for Taiwanese companies to collaborate with overseas producers, noting significant growth in Asian content consumption across the region. According to market studies presented, over 60% of young people in Latin America have watched at least one K-drama series or anime in the past year, with Asian content consumption increasing by 35% in the last two years.

Governments in the Southeast Asia region claim to recognize the importance of the creative economy for both its employment and trickle-down economic benefits and for its soft power and national branding advantages. That recognition has led many to add or improve their soft money sources, with many of the new financial pools specifically encouraging cross-border coproduction. Officials from Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan all made presentations.

Taiwanese creators are also increasingly recognizing the importance of adapting local stories for international markets. Discussions highlighted the need for narratives that resonate universally while retaining their local essence. At the event’s opening Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) CEO Dr. Lu Jiun Wei told Variety, “We already have good stories and topics in Taiwan from the local people, but what we need to improve is storytelling. We want to learn the international ways of storytelling, so that we can promote and push Taiwanese local content to the international market. That’s why we’re trying to attract more international co-production and co-funding.”

Creative Freedom Fuels Innovation
A noticeable accent at TCCF was the emphasis on creative freedom that the Taiwanese film industry enjoys compared with those of its near neighbors Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, which endure intrusive censorship, government-mandated script approval systems or other curbs. Filmmakers expressed their appreciation for the artistic liberties they enjoy, which allow for experimentation with various genres and themes.

Lu talked up democratically-run Taiwan’s creative strengths. “These things come from the stories here in Taiwan. We have the diverse topics here, like BL [‘boys love’] and girls love. Those topics are not allowed to be presented in China. We talk with our international partners because these unique topics can only found in Taiwan,” Lu said. “This diversity of topics and the creative freedom to tell those stories would be the strengths of Taiwan.”

The lack of content-driven (and corporate) regulation has helped Taiwan, not mainland China or Hong Kong, become the hub of Chinese-language content investments and production commissions of international such as Netflix.1

“Freedom is our opportunity. In Taiwan, we have the creative freedom to tell and explore different stories, genres, and types of narratives,” Hsiao Ya-Chuan, director of “Old Fox,” Taiwan‘s submission for the 97th Academy Awards international feature race, told Variety. “However, the challenge is that we have a limited domestic market. That’s why we need international markets. To appeal to broader audiences, we should reach out to different continents and regions, including northeast Asia, southeast Asia, Europe, America, and many others. As a result, we can gain a larger market.”

Taiwanese Actors Making Waves Internationally
Following on from the coproduction and international commissioning movement, Taiwan’s leading actors are enjoying increased visibility. The TCCF event showcased their experiences in breaking into global markets, which while increasing their profiles, also come with cultural challenges and opportunities.

Speaking at a star-studded TCCF panel local heartthrob J.C. Lin, fresh from a Taiwan-French co-production completed six months ago, highlighted the cultural contrasts in communication styles. “In Taiwan, the Chinese culture we want to listen to other people before expressing our own opinion,” Lin observed. Lin also recounted an enlightening experience from Taiwan-India co-production “Demon Hunters,” where an Indian actor taught him about treating religious props with proper respect. Kai Ko, another panelist, has lost his career in mainland China, where he is now banned for a past drug offence.

Actor Wu Ke-Xi was delighted that her contract for Constance Tsang’s Cannes-debuting U.S. production “Blue Sun Palace” included a clause allowing her to revoke intimate scenes until the day of release.

But, the Taiwan actor making the biggest splash at the moment is veteran Lee Kang-sheng. Known for a succession of art pictures by Taiwan-based Malaysian director Tsai Ming-liang, Lee was recently seen in Chinese-language U.S. picture “Blue Sun Palace” and Taiwanese-French-Singaporean co-production “Stranger Eyes,” which debuted in competition in Venice and this week also played as the opening title of Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Horse Film Festival. He will next be seen in another co-production “Black Ox,” by mainland Chinese auteur Qiu Jiongjiong.