Taiwan films most creative in China world: GIO

“These film directors prove over and over again that Taiwan is the most free and creative place in the Chinese community,” Su said at a send-off news conference for renowned local director Tsai Ming-liang, as well as other directors, actors and filmmakers, who were departing to attend the Cannes Film Festival scheduled for May 13-24.

The minister said the government not only wants to congratulate Tsai for his latest movie “Face” being selected as an official entry at this year's Cannes Film Festival, but also to thank outstanding Taiwanese filmmakers for their efforts to raise Taiwan's international profile through movies.

“Bon voyage to all of you and you should not feel too much pressure because you are already number one in my heart, “ Su said.

Tsai said at the news conference that he is excited about going to Cannes again and it is because of international film festivals and support from governments that drive the development of movie creation.

“The fact that my movie is among the official entries again means I already achieved what I aimed to do, “ Tsai said. “It is the pride of Taiwan.”

“Face,” or “Visage” in French, is Tsai's 10th film and a tribute to French New Wave cinema. It is described as a film within a film, telling the story of a Chinese filmmaker who heads to the Louvre to shoot a film revolving around the myth of Salome and her request to her father Herod that St. John the Baptist be beheaded.

Financed by NT$200 million (US$6.1 million) from Taiwan, France, the Netherlands and Belgium, Tsai was commissioned by the Louvre Museum to direct the narrative feature film.

The production, which features famous French movie stars Laetitia Casta, Fanny Ardant and Jean-Pierre Leaud, as well as Taiwanese actors Lee Kang-sheng and Lu Yi ching, will be the first movie to be collected by the Louvre to be kept among the ranks of some of the world's finest art.

With the 1994 movie “Vive L'Amour,” which won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice International Film Festival, Tsai was acclaimed as an important new voice in Asian cinema. More recently, his film “The Wayward Cloud” won three awards at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival.

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