Details have started to emerge about the 5th Taiwan International Film & Television Expo (TIFTE) which will take place from Nov 17 and culminates with the Golden Horse Awards on Dec 8.

Five events will take place under the umbrella of the expo:

41st Golden Bell Television Awards (Nov 17)

29th Golden Horse Film Festival (Nov 23 - Dec 8)

5th Taipei International TV, Film and Digital Contents Exhibition (Nov 23-25)

3rd Taipei Film & TV Project Promotion (Dec 4-6)

44th Golden Horse Film Awards (Dec 8)

Highlights of the Golden Horse Film Festival include tributes to the late Edward Yang (1947-2007), King Hu (1932-1997) and Li Han-hsiang (1926-1996) supported by exhibitions of their illustrations.

The festival is also planning a tribute to Japan New Wave master Yoshida Kiju and actress Okada Mariko. Continuing the Japanese theme, Chinese directors will present their favourite classics from the neighbouring country.

A new Trends & Waves section will spotlight Romanian cinema and genre films from South-East Asia. The former will be attended by Cristian Mungiu, director of Cannes-winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days; latter highlights the glamour of the region's cinema. Confirmed guests include Malaysia's Yasmin Ahmad and Indonesian heartthrob Nicholas Saputra.

Meanwhile, the Golden Horse Awards should boast one of its most competitive line-ups in recent years. High-profile entries competing on Dec 8 include Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, Jiang Wen's The Sun Also Rises, Jay Chou's Secret and Derek Yee's Protege. Dark horses include Pang Ho-cheung's Exodus, Chang Tso-chi's Butterfly and Tony Ayres' The Home Song Stories.

This year's submissions comprised 73 feature films, 17 shorts, two documentaries and two animations. The large number of submitted features films - representing a 25% increase on 2006 - has placed a heavy burden on the pre-selection jury who watch all entries projected on 35mm over several weeks. Shortlist of nominated films will be announced on October 27.

Feng Xiaogang's Assembly and Peter Chan's The Warlords were likely not ready by the September 20 submissions deadline and will still be eligible for next year's edition. Lee Kang-sheng's Venice competition entry Help Me Eros was not entered after producer Tsai Ming-liang began a boycott of the awards ceremony last year in protest of the jury's selection criteria.

The Taipei Film & TV Project Promotion (TFTPP) is open to projects at any stage of development until October 20. The financing market had a high-profile launch in 2005 before fumbling in 2006. It will be more focused this year, restricting the number of selected projects to just ten so as to better target visiting investors. Event is modeled on project markets in Pusan, Rotterdam and Hong Kong.

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