In collaboration with the Education, Culture and Sports Department of Riga City Council, the Taipei Mission in the Republic of Latvia held the "Taiwan Film Festival" from March 4th to 5th, 2017. Four scrumptious and characteristic movies, "Cape No.7", "The Wheel of Life", "Life of Pi" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", were screened at the cinema "Splendid Palace"and respectively attracted more than 400 viewers with extremely positive feedbacks.
Latvia is a country with profound cultural heritages and its people eagerly participate in all kinds of artistic and cultural events throughout the year. In viewing of the fact that Asian movies are not prevalent in Latvia, Taipei Mission decided to hold the first-ever Taiwan film festival after consulting with the Education, Culture and Sports Department of Riga City Council as well as friends of the Latvian film industry to further promote international culture exchanges.
The Mission has spared no efforts in promoting the Festival by preparing large color posters with event information and movie plots in Latvian, Russian and English languages and distributing on different social medias such as websites, twitter and facebook pages of the Riga City Council , Splendid Palace, and other Non-governmental organizations such as the Canadian Chamber in Latvia. Besides, the Mission also arranged interviews of Representative Wu, Rong-chuan from broadcasting station “Radio 1” and daily newspaper “Diena”, and the TV program “What Happens in Riga”of channel TV24 also invited Representative Wu to introduce the Event.
As Representative Wu remarked in the opening reception that Taiwan, blessed with historic and political factors, is a melting pot of diverse ethnic and cultural traditions of peoples from aborigines, from all over Mainland China, and from immigrants of Southeast Asia over the last six and half decades. Its robust civil society has become a driving force for cultural creation, nourishing numerous globally-acclaimed artistic and cultural groups and individuals throughout the years. He also noted that Taiwan has a strong film industry which produces dozens of feature movies each year and is home to Ang Lee, a two-time Academy Award for Best Directors and the director of "Life of Pi" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
To facilitate better understanding of the movies for Latvian audiences, the Mission invited Latvian commentators to briefly introduce the plot and share their thoughts on the movies. In addition, professional simultaneous interpretation in Latvian was also provided and was tremendously well received as attendees gave standing ovation after each showing to demonstrate their appreciation. The Taipei Mission is grateful to the Latvian moviegoers for their active participation and pledges to organize similar international cultural exchange activities in the future.
Representative Wu delivers remarks at the opening reception of "Taiwan Film Festival"
Member of Parliament Hon. Atis Lejiņš delivers remarks at the opening reception
Deputy Director of the Education, Culture and Sports Department of Riga City Council Baiba Smite delivers remarks at the opening reception
Opening reception of "Taiwan Film Festival"
Photos showing Taipei's diverse characteristics are displayed at the opening reception
Moviegoers actively attend the festival
Famous movie blogger Sergejs Timonins serves as the commentator for "Life of Pi"
Chair of the Board of "Children's Forum of Latvia" Inete Ielite serves as the commentator for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
