Attention to all Taiwanese filmmakers! The 3rd annual Taiwanese American Film Festival (TAFF) is holding the first ever Pitch Competition this year. Selected Nominees will be able to get professional consultation and training from Hollywood filmmakers for one month. In addition to getting up to five-thousand-dollar award money, the champion could also get connections in Hollywood and opportunities to start filming projects! The application deadline is on September 10th, and the nominees will be announced on September 16th. Filmmakers please stayed tuned!
This competition is targeted on original feature projects that are related to Taiwanese cultural elements. As long as the filmmakers (which include director, screenwriter, and lead actor) who involved in the projects are Taiwanese or they were original from Taiwan, or even the feature projects itself are related to Taiwan, they will all be qualified for applications. TAFF team plans to announce six selected nominees on September 16th, and they will pair each of them up with one famous Hollywood filmmaker. Nominees will be trained by them for one-month, then they will compete all together on November 16th during the festival. The winner of the competition will be granted a prize of $5000 cash towards their projects, which is definitely a great opportunity for any of the filmmakers. This project is now open to all Taiwanese filmmakers from all over the world. For the training consultation and instructions, they can all be done online through the Internet. However, once nominees are selected for further competition, they will have to come to Los Angeles for the final contest. (The nominees have to cover their own travel expense to Los Angeles. For further information about the travel, please contact the event organizer.)
The 2019 TAFF is held by Taiwanese American Professionals in the city of Los Angeles, with the support from Taiwanese Ministry of Culture and Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles. After the second annual TAFF which was held in 2018, President Tsai Ing-Wen gave a visit with TAFF boards. She then recognized the festival’s core values of gathering Taiwanese American young people’s cultural recognition and their hard work of promoting Taiwanese culture during her visit in the United States. The Festival’s Executive Director, Anthony Ma, expresses, “We accomplished a few things with the success of our first two years — we showcased films that honored our culture giving a glimpse of the bright filmmakers, educated our audience about the current state of the Taiwanese American voice within entertainment and most importantly we created a place where storytellers can feel at home, connect and build with one another. We aim to continue these goals during our third year as well as to expand the conversation to a wider audience and to encourage filmmakers.”
Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles, having been supporting TAFF for three years, indicates that TAFF is an interactive platform connecting young generation filmmakers all together in-between Taiwan and Hollywood. Moreover, it encourages the creation and presentation of Taiwanese-related film and television projects. With the diverse activities such as contest awards, film screenings, professional trainings, experience sharing workshops, etc., they all share the goal of creating more opportunities for Taiwanese filmmakers in the upcoming generation at TAFF.
The 3rd annual TAFF will be held on November 16th, which includes activities such as Keynote Speech, Pitch Competition, Shorts Program, Feature Screening, and the Awards Ceremony, etc. Feel free to go to www.taff.la or search @TAFilmFestival on Facebook for detailed information.