Taiwan’s TCCF Pitching Opens To First International Projects; Offers $150,000 In Cash Prizes

Liz Shackleton
·4 min read

After focusing on Taiwanese projects for its first three years, the pitching section of Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) opened its doors to international projects for the first time this year.

The move attracted 539 projects from 20 regions including Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Iran, France and the U.S. After a selection process overseen by four separate juries, the applications were whittled down to 43 across four sections: Project to Screen, divided further into Feature Films and Series; Animation Features & Series; and Documentary Features & Series.

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The feature film section includes projects from leading filmmakers such as Japanese director Koji Fukada (A Girl Missing, Love Life), Indonesia’s Edwin (Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash), the Philippines’ Sheron Deyoc (Women Of The Weeping River) and Japan-based, Indian-origin filmmaker Anshul Chauhan (December).

TCCF pitching also includes an additional ten Taiwanese IPs that have strong potential for adaptations. These include books, webtoons and comics from companies such as Kadokawa Taiwan Corporation, Mirror Fiction Inc and Naver Webtoon.

All these projects are in the running for cash prizes and awards with a combined value of more than $150,000. In the Project to Screen section, the prizes on offer include the $30,000 TCCF Award: Best Project, in addition to awards from international partners such as Series Mania, Warner Bros Discovery, Udine Far East Film Festival and the Motion Picture Association.

Among selected IPs in the Story to Screen section, three will receive the TCCF Award: Best Story with a cash prize of $3,000 (NT$100,000), while other awards will be presented from partners including Taiwanese broadcasters Sanlih and Gala Television.

<strong><em>TCCF Pitching</em></strong>
TCCF Pitching

The project and IP pitching event is one of the main sections of TCCF, a content and audiovisual technology market organized by Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), which is scheduled to take place November 7-10 at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei. TAICCA has a mission to support Taiwanese content as well as build bridges between Taiwan and international partners.

Among the international feature film projects – Fukada will be pitching Nagi Note, a project that pays tribute to French director Eric Rohmer, who is one of Fukada’s major inspirations.

Edwin is bringing Sleep No More, scripted by leading Indonesian writer Eka Kurniawan, and Deyoc is presenting Mother Maybe, produced by the Philippines’ Arden Rod Condez and Singapore’s Lai Weijie. Chauhan’s Tides is being set up as a Japan-Taiwan co-production with producers including Kowatanda Films, Yaman Films and Serendipity Films.

Taiwanese projects include The Shadows, directed by Taiwan’s Lingo Hsieh (Green Door) and produced by Japan’s Takashige Ichise, whose credits include The Grudge (Ju-on) series of J-horror films. The Shadows will be Hsieh’s first English-language project.

On the series side, Malaysian director Edmund Yeo is adapting Yoko Tawada’s dystopian novel The Last Children Of Tokyo as an international co-production between Taiwan’s Betula Films and Flash Forward Entertainment and Japanese broadcaster NHK.

Series projects from Taiwan’s booming TV and streaming industry include So May We Start, a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of Taiwan’s indie rock scene from Teng I-Hang (Fragrance Of The Last Flower), and I Wish You Happiness, from Chen Weiling, director of critically acclaimed series On Children.

Among the animation projects, French director Denis Do, who won the Grand Jury Prize at Annecy International Film Festival for Funan (2018), is presenting Sorya about a young Cambodian woman seeking freedom in the city. Documentaries being pitched include Island Of The Winds, about Taiwan’s Losheng Sanatorium, which won this year’s Cannes Docs-in-Progress Award, and Palimpsest: Traces Of A Name, from frequent Eric Rohmer collaborator Mary Stephen.

In addition to the cash awards on offer at TCCF, projects that fulfil the eligibility requirements can also apply for support from TAICCA’s two funding programmes: the Creative Content Development Program (CCDP) and Taiwan International Co-funding Program (TICP), with up to $300,000 available in funding.

Producers and directors behind the projects will attend pitching workshops organized by TCCF throughout October and November. In addition to pitching their projects on stage at TCCF, they will also have the chance to meet one-on-one with potential investors.

TAICCA launched TCCF in 2020, bringing three existing industry events into one programme covering pitching, a contents market and an innovation section showcasing the latest developments in audiovisual-related technology.

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