Five projects to watch in Taiwan Creative Content Fest’s pitching section

A record 53 projects including international productions for the first time, will be presented at the pitching section of the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF), from narrative films and drama series to animations and documentary features.

The event is organised by Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) and runs November 7-11. 

Screen profiles five projects to watch out for below.

Before We Are Monsters (Taiwan)

Executive Producer: Lin Shih-ken
Prods: Lin I-ling, Katniss Hsiao
Production companies: Outland Film Production
Budget: $1.8m ($100,000)

This mini-series is executive produced by Lin Shih-ken, winner of the Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year at the upcoming Golden Horse Awards, and adapted from the debut novel of the same name by Katniss Hsiao.

The story follows a crime scene cleaner who has lost her ability to distinguish odours following the death of her brother. When she is implicated as a murder suspect, she must prove her innocence by seeking the help of a serial killer.

“The series blends a whodunit story guided by scent with Taiwan’s distinct cultural landscape to offer the classic crime detective genre a fresh take along with universal themes exploring the inevitable and unspeakable dark side of human nature,” says Lin whose credits include this year’s biggest Taiwanese film Marry My Dead Body.

Contact: Outland Film Production Katniss Hsiao 

The Last Children Of Tokyo (Taiwan, Japan)

Dir: Edmund Yeo
Prods: Ivy Yu-Hua Shen, Maiko Itagaki, Patrick Mao Huang
Production companies: NHK, Flash Forward Entertainment, Betula Films
Budget: $3.5m ($100,000 secured)

This drama series is adapted from Yoko Tawada’s National Book Award-winning novel of the same name (also known as The Emissary), which depicts a dystopian, isolated Japan when all foreign influences in the name of nationalism are erased and children are fated to die before their time.

“It’s a multi-generational family saga exploring the best and worst of people in a world gone mad,” says director Yeo.“The spirit behind this project is meant to transcend barriers and borders. Thus, it is intended to be shot in both Japan and Taiwan, with the participation of international talents before and behind the scenes.”

Based in both Malaysia and Japan, Yeo previously directed Aquerat, winner of best director at the Tokyo film festival, and Japanese-language film Moonlight Shadow based on Banana Yoshimoto’s novella.

Contact: Betula Films Ivy Yu-Hua Shen 

Nagi Notes (Japan, France)

Dir: Koji Fukada
Prods: Terutaro Osanai
Production companies: Survivance, Tokyo Garage
Budget: $670,000 ($150,000 secured)

Japanese director Fukada whose latest film Love Life premiered in Venice competition last year, has spent seven years researching Nagi, a tiny village in the mountains of western Japan for his new film, which he describes as “a work with a keen eye on society, narrated in the form of a diary, like the works of Eric Rohmer”.

The protagonist is an architect from Tokyo who travels to Nagi where she visits the sister of her ex-husband and meets the art student who has used her as a model before and his father who is secretly in love with her after seeing her portrait in his son’s painting.

Terutaro Osanai is a Paris-based Japanese producer whose credits include Juichiro Yamazaki’s Yamabuki, which premiered in Rotterdam’s Tiger competition and Acid Cannes last year.

Contact: Survivance Terutaro Osanai 

Palimpsest: Traces Of A Name (France, Hong Kong, Taiwan)

Dir: Mary Stephen
Prods: Annie Ohayon-Dekel, Stefano Centini, Teresa Kwong
Production companies: 24images, Volos Films, ProduSa
Budget: $372,298 ($93,077 secured)

This feature documentary tells the parallel story of two Stephen families: that of English writer Virginia Woolf (nee Stephen) and of director Stephen, who was born in Hong Kong of Chinese descent, grew up in Canada before settling in France and became French New Wave director Eric Rohmer’s frequent film editor.

“Through the use of archival images, vintage 16mm home movies, letters and newly-shot footage, the documentary tells a unique story of the surname Stephen, set in the colonial era in Hong Kong, Virginia Woolf’s Bloomsbury, and China’s 1930s intellectual scene, as only I myself can tell it,” says Stephen.

She will explore the impact of inheriting a race-defining name on her own life and reflects on issues on cultural identity and heritage.

Contact: ProduSa Teresa Kwong

Sleep No More (Indonesia)

Dir: Edwin
Prods: Meiske Taurisia, Muhammad Zaidy
Production companies: Palari Films
Budget: $750,000 ($375,000 secured)

This horror fantasy film features an original story developed by Indonesian director Edwin whose 2021’s Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash won the Locarno Golden Leopard award, and famed novelist-turned-screenwriter Eka Kurniawan.

The story follows a Taiwanese girl who visits Indonesia to find out the cause of her Indonesian nanny’s unnatural death, while an Indonesian girl suffers from inhuman working conditions in a factory that produces custom fake body parts 

“Despite the lack of formal government-to-government cooperation between Indonesia and Taiwan, there has been a deep people-to-people relationship through the export of Indonesian migrant workers since 1971,” says Edwin’s regular producer Meiske Taurisia. “We’re hoping to initiate a co-production of both countries and look forward to working with Taiwanese producer, actress, and crew such as editor, sound designer and music composer.”

Contact: Palari Films Meiske Taurisia

• TAICCA head Homme Tsai talks the 4th edition of Taiwan Creative Content Fest