Taiwan’s Doze Niu Charged in Film Location Offense
BERLIN — Taiwanese film director Doze Niu has been formally charged with using fake documents to smuggle a mainland Chinese cinematographer onto a Taiwan naval base in June last year. He faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
Niu (aka Niu Chen Zer), who previously delivered hits “Monga,” and “Love,” and Cau Yu entered the Zuoying base near Kaohsiung while scouting locations for Niu’s planned film “Military Paradise.”
He had previously applied for permission to enter with Cao, and been rejected, but in June they sneaked onto the base in a bus and later boarded a navy ship.
Taiwan has long-standing ‘Vital Area Regulations’ that bar Chinese nationals from entering its military facilities.
Deciding to go ahead with the case, prosecutor Huang Yuan-kuang said that Niu and Cao knew they were not allowed to enter, but went ahead anyway, by using a Taiwanese ID card and disguising Cao to look like the genuine card holder. The prosecutor accepted that the pair had not attempted to steal military secrets.
Niu’s 2012 pic “Love” appeared in Berlin’s Panorama section.
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