Taiwan’s largest animation festival, "the Taichung International Animation Festival (TIAF)" announced nominations for the "Short Film Awards" and among the 2,028 short films submitted, 63 were nominated including 8 produced by Taiwanese teams that will compete for the first prize of the sections on "Short Films in Competition" and "Student Films in Competition." All nominated works will be played at Kbro Cinema, Taichung openly between November 27th and December 2nd. Everyone is welcome to the cinema to cheer for the nominees.
According to Chief Executive Director of the Taichung Film Development Foundation (TFDF), Lin Ying-Chi, the TAIF was first organized in 2015 and with high recognition, the largest of its kind in Taiwan with the grand prize up to NT$1.2 million, more and more animation creators were attracted to participate in the competitions. This year marks the 6th Anniversary of the TFDF and as what the organizer has been doing, this year; there are two sections of "Short Films in Competition" and "Student Films in Competition" that received submission of 2,028 pieces from 96 countries and regions. After being evaluated by judges, nominated works include outstanding works from Taiwan and other countries. For "Short Films in Competition" and "Student Films in Competition," 63 short films including 27 in the former section and 36 in the latter section were nominated.
This year, as in the previous years, first prizes will be given away for "Short Films in Competition" and "Student Films in Competition" and eight short films are competing this year including the new film of the winners of last year’s Golden Horse Awards, Director Huang Yun-Sian and Liao Pei-Yu, "Magnificent Mountains;" Best Animation Film nominated by the Taipei Film Festival, "Cloudy and Sunny" of Director Lien Chun-Chie; "The Girl Who is Afraid of being Touched" of Huang Liang-Hsin, a local Taichunger graduating from Royal College of Art in the UK; "Buoy" of Chang Chia-Ning and "Seeds of Bloom" of Liu Ching-Yi, both from National Taiwan University of Arts; "12:15" of Wang Wei-Fan, from Taipei National University of Arts; "Arcade" jointly directed by Chang Nei-Chung and Yang Tzi-Yi from Shih Chien University; and "One" of Hsieh Tszung-Yi from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
According to the Information Bureau, for the extra round of competitions, in addition to "votes cast by attendees" held annually, this year more young children of appropriate ages will be invited to participate in "Best Children Short Film Awards" to promote animations at different age groups. The 2020 TIAF will be held from November 27th to December 2nd at Kbro Cinema, Taichung and winners will be announced at the awards ceremony. For more information about participating films and related events, please check out the official website of the TIAF on http://twtiaf.com or fanpage of TIAF on Facebook at http://facebook.com/tiaf.taichung.