The Winner of Best Director Weeps: Taiwan's Films Remain in the Pits

The Winner of Best Director Weeps: Taiwan's Films Remain in the Pits
China News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
December 4, 2009

To see a movie but experience a sour feeling in the pit of one's stomach, is probably an experience unique to Taiwan's movie audiences. Why? One reason is that the movies themselves are downers. But more importantly, these movies reflect the ups and downs of Taiwan's film industry. As we watch them, it is truly difficult to suppress our tears. Leon Dai, this year's Golden Horse Award winner for Best Director, directed "No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti," or “I Cannot Live Without You.” The film won several major awards, yet he wept so hard he could no longer speak. His reaction was eloquent testimony to how low the state of film on Taiwan has descended.

The depressed state of Taiwan's film industry is not something that happened overnight. Countless internal and external shocks mired Taiwan's film industry in its current quagmire. Take "I Cannot Live Without You," for example. It was the most-talked about film this year, and won awards for best feature film. The production budget was a mere six million dollars. It can only be described as a low budget film. Leon Dai did triple duty as director, screenwriter, and film editor. He holed up in his room for three months, editing this deeply moving film. Leon Dai's tears were a clear expression of the hardships he endured and the pain he suppressed during the film's production.

Six million dollars is not enough to cover the cost of scenery in a typical commercial film. Take the sixth installment of the Harry Potter series, for example. Production costs reached 250 million USD. A budget of seven or eight billion NTD for a film is unthinkable on Taiwan. Leave aside comparisons with big budget European and American films for the moment. Take a look at "Wind," which was also nominated or a Golden Horse Award. The production cost for "Wind" was 40 million RMB. That is approximately 200 to 400 million NTD. The film "Nanjing. Nanjing" cost 70 million RMB. The film "The Founding of a Republic," is an account of political events on Mainland China over the past 60 years. Its budget was considered modest, 30 million RMB, but only because cast members waived their fees.

Last year's Golden Horse Award winner "Cape No. 7" was a hit on Taiwan. Audiences talked about it all year. This film incurred what is considered a relatively high production cost, 45 million NTD. The popularity of Cape No. 7 was a result of everyone being caught up in a wave of hope. They decided that Taiwan's film had finally bottomed out and was about to experience a rebirth. But when the director of Cape No. 7 attempted to make the film he had dreamed of for years, "Seediq Bale - A Real Man," he found himself back in the same predicament. The government provided grants, but he was still unable to cover endlessly rising production costs.

Are filmmakers on Taiwan destined to be lonely for an eternity? Taiwan's film industry once set trends in Asia. But somewhere along the way, Taiwan's film industry lost its lead over Hong Kong. Today, even Mainland China's film industry environment and film quality have caught up. Take "Cars" for example. It also contained powerful social criticism. But it made people laugh until they cried. It was rich in cinematic content. It was highly entertaining. The film industry is experiencing a downturn. Taiwan no longer produces any big stars. The stars on the red carpet at the Golden Horse Awards are either Mainland stars or Hong Kong stars.

The film "I Cannot Live Without You," won numerous awards. It was a film adaptation of a story torn from the social columns, involving real people and real events. It blasted the mentality of government bureaucrats who have provoked public dissatisfaction. But the vast majority of civil servants refused to see it. After it won several film awards, the Ministry of the Interior held a drawing for free tickets to the film. It hoped to make civil servants better understand that little problems for the people, are big problems for the government. But this provoked dissatisfaction among lower echelon civil servants. They resented the intrusion on their free time. Not only were they required to see the film, they had to write a report afterwards. They considered it a booby prize. When even civil servants are reluctant to see a film about them, one can easily imagine how difficult it is to fill theater seats on Taiwan.

From the Chen administration to the Ma administration, the government has attempted to alleviate the plight of the film industry. The promoter of film industry policy has long been the Government Information Office. But it has never had much success. After all, government budgets are limited. The government cannot possibly dedicate all its resources to rescuing a single industry. Particularly the film industry, where the risks are enormous, and the result of bad investments is hard-earned taxpayer dollars down the drain. Besides the risk of the government losing bundles of money, there is the risk of sweetheart deals favoring special interests. Filmmakers must first establish a track record, starting with large and small film festivals. Only then may they receive government assistance. But frankly, it is always easy to cheer the winners. It is always harder to rescue the dying. Audiences on Taiwan are accustomed to Hollywood films. Blockbusters feature big name casts, eye-popping scenery, and extravagant production values. Gaining audience favor is by no means easy. Under the circumstances, Taiwan's low and medium budget productions will be a hard sell in theaters. It would be better to concentrate on made for television films. First use television to create a word of mouth reputation. Win back lost viewers. Otherwise, every film made is going to lose money. No filmmaker can survive that way.

Taiwan's films were once popular throughout Asia. Today however they are unable to appeal to audiences outside the island. Films are not merely the artistic expressions of an individual director. A commercial film is not an art film with a cult following, or even an experimental film. When a director transforms his dreams into films, they must be able to move peoples' hearts. Once the product has been created, it must be effectively promoted through appropriate marketing. Only then can one establish a virtuous circle of producing and promoting quality films. To rely on the government or filmmakers alone is not enough.

最佳導演飆淚 台灣電影還是陷谷底
2009-12-04
中國時報

看電影看得很心酸，大概是台灣電影觀眾特有的經驗。為什麼心酸？電影本身催淚是其一，更重要的，從電影裡看到台灣電影產業的起落浮沉，真的很難不讓人淚難自抑。今年金馬獎最佳導演戴立忍執導的《不能沒有你》，抱回多項大獎，卻只看到他在會場中，男兒淚幾度飆到講不出話來，更印證台灣影業環境糟到了什麼地步。

台灣電影環境低迷，不是一天兩天的事了，很多內外在因素的衝擊，讓台灣電影人腳陷泥沼，苦不堪言。就拿《不能沒有你》這部全年討論最多的最佳劇情片來說，全部製作經費僅六百萬，可謂最小成本的院線片，戴立忍得身兼導演、編劇甚至剪輯，一個人關在房裡三個月，剪出這部動人心弦的電影，戴導的淚，直接不掩藏地抒發他在製作過程的委屈和壓抑。

六百萬，給一般商業片搭場景都不夠。以熱翻全球的哈利波特第六集為例，製作費高達二億五千萬美元，七、八十億製作一部電影的手筆，台灣想都不要想。即使不和歐美大片相提並論，同樣是金馬獎入圍的《風聲》，製作費號稱四千萬人民幣，還有一說是不斷追加到八千萬人民幣，折合台幣二億到四億之譜。《南京．南京》也有七千萬人民幣，至於中國大陸的建政六十年大片《建國大業》，算是非常儉省的，製作費也有三千萬人民幣，不過，這是因為大卡司都一毛不收。

去年，同樣是金馬獎大贏家的《海角七號》，紅遍台灣，讓所有觀眾津津樂道長達一整年，這部片製作費算是相對高的，也不過台幣四千五百萬。海角的熱賣，一度讓大家興起一股希望，認為台灣電影終於該到了谷底翻身的時候了，然而，當魏導靠著海角賣座執拍他多年夢想的《賽德克巴萊》時，他的困境改變不大，即使得到政府的輔導金補助，都還是沒辦法挹注他不斷向上攀昇的製作經費。

寂寞難道一定得是台灣電影人的宿命嗎？想當年，台灣電影引領亞洲風潮，曾幾何時，台灣影業優勢竟一步一步被香港超越，如今連大陸電影從環境到品質都顯著地趕上台灣，以《瘋狂賽車》為例，同樣是一部社會批判性極強的電影，卻讓人笑到飆淚，電影元素充分而飽滿，娛樂效果奇佳。電影環境低迷，連帶的台灣甚至很久不再有真正的大明星了，金馬紅毯走下來，不是港星就是陸星。

《不能沒有你》，風光抱回多項大獎，這部以真人真事的社會新聞事件改編的電影，批判政府官僚心態，造成民怨無處可訴，絕大多數公務員卻沒興趣看，得獎之後，內政部決定出錢讓所屬抽籤觀賞，從電影了解民眾的小事，就是政府的大事，卻引來基層公務員不滿，認為既剝奪他們的下班時間，看完還得寫心得報告，簡直是強迫中獎。連公務員都不肯看一部和他們相關的電影，可想而知，台灣電影要賣座有多難。

從扁政府到馬政府，改善製作環境、推動電影產業都是新聞局重點政策，卻始終不得法。畢竟政府預算有限，不可能將政府資源無限制投入在單一產業，尤其是電影產業風險其實滿大，投資錯誤的結果就是血本無歸，政府丟大錢還要有圖利他人的風險，多半都得先從大小影展抱一些成績，才能得到相對獎助，直言之，錦上添花有，雪中送炭難。台灣觀眾早已習慣好萊塢的電影口味，凡院線片若非大卡司、大場景、大製作，要受到青睞委實不易，在這種情況下，台灣目前風湧的小成本製作，既難以在院線賣座，不如走電視電影的路線，先打通電視版權創造口碑，找回失落的觀眾群，否則拍一部賠一部，沒有哪個電影人吃得消。

台灣電影過去總能紅遍全亞洲，如今卻有走不出台灣的危機，電影不能只是導演個人的藝術理想囈語，商業電影不是小眾的藝術電影甚或實驗電影，導演的夢境轉幻成電影時，就必須成為能打動人心的作品，作品產出後還要有適當的商業機制行銷，才能有效促進電影產業良性循環，層層環節只靠政府，或只靠電影人都是不夠的。