Formosa Betrayed 2008

Oh boy! The KMT are a-gonna just LUUUUUUURVE this one! :laughing:

[quote]FILMMAKER TO SHINE SPOTLIGHT ON TAIWAN
Taipei, Nov. 30 Taiwanese American filmmaker William Tiao
said Thursday that he was glad to learn of enormous positive response to a promotion tour
of Taiwan for a movie planned for 2008 to be titled Formosa Betrayed,
which looks to “shine the spotlight on Taiwan.”

He expressed happiness with  the  public  and

private support for the movie in Taiwan, adding that many local
businessmen have shown interest in investing in the movie, which will
have a US$12 million budget.

Inspired by a true story,  Formosa Betrayed aims to "enlighten  a

global audience" with the story of the murder of a Taiwanese
professor who was killed for his courage in speaking out for an
independent and democratic Taiwan.

"I think  this is a story  that nobody  else can tell except  me,

because most people don’t know the story, " said Tiao, who gave up a
political career in 2002 after 10 years in Washington, D.C. and moved
to Los Angeles to start his entertainment business.

Born  in Kansas,  Tiao  said  he  heard  a lot  of stories  about

Taiwan’s White Terror period from his parents, who had always been
active in Taiwan’s independence and democracy movements. Tiao said he
knew from the age of six that he would work in politics.

Frustrated  by Taiwan's  lack  of international  recognition  and

support during his time in Washington, Tiao decided to take a
different path in 2002 and moved to Hollywood, where he learned from
scratch about acting, writing and filmmaking and came up with the
Formosa Betrayed plan two years ago.

With  his  childhood  memories,  political  skills,  and Taiwan's

presidential election and Beijing Olympics in 2008, Tiao thinks 2008
will be perfect timing for the release of the film and hopes it will
be a time for the whole world to take a good hard look at Taiwan and
“start a discussion” on Taiwan’s rich history and culture.

The movie also seeks  to offer  an opportunity  for Taiwanese  to

“reconcile with the past before moving ahead” and to reflect on
Taiwan’s history "from a fresh perspective as a third-party observer,
" Tiao added.

The movie takes its title from a book published in 1965 by former

U.S. Consul George Kerr, who documented his observation of the 228
incident of 1947.
[/quote]

Coming from William Tiao, it’s sure to be an objective and balanced piece of work.

Where do you work again? :laughing: This story is about a month old…

He was saying it in Taiwan, though. It only counts if its said in Taiwan. If it wasn’t said in Taiwan, then it wasn’t said. You know. So actually, as far as the Taiwanese are concerned, yesterday was the first time he said it. Funny thing is, most of that piece is lifted word for word from the Houston Chronicle. I love my job.

How in the heck did the international community find out about this first? I read about it in Taipei Times about a month or so ago?

So he’s as Taiwanese as Michael Howard is Romanian and less German than Andrew Sachs ? He has has much right to comment on Taiwanese history as er… we do.

I think you’ll find that’s mostly the case with the most vocal supporters of The Cause. Almost every day in the Taipei Times there’s some rampant independence-now! letter from “Charles Hong” in Akron, Ohio or someplace like that.

Ok, cue up the KMT history of suppression lessons…I really shouldn’t be posting in this forum anyway.

How in the heck did the international community find out about this first? I read about it in Taipei Times about a month or so ago?[/quote]

It’s been circulating for quite some time. I still have a pamphlet from several months ago on it, when they were looking for financing. I decided not to blog on it at that time because I didn’t know where they were copyright-wise and story-wise. But a large number of people in the foreign and Taiwanese-American communities have known about it for a while.

Michael

now he just has to convince china airlines (or is that taiwan airlines?) and EVA to show it on all inbound flights to TTY airport.

and maybe all those extra ‘charters’ between here and shanghai at CNY…

hell, why stop there? how about beaming it non-stop on to the wall next to Mao’s fat face in TienAnMen. now that would be funny.

Oh come on, cut William Tao some slack…

Would you go out and see his movie if it did come out? I’ve got the pre-production trailer on a CD somewhere and it looks good. My friend created the Formosa Betrayed website.

The problem is that I highly doubt any big name actors are going to pop out for this one.

I remember that Steven Seagal is a frequent visitor to Taiwan as he’s interested in meditation and martial arts. Maybe he could be convinced to give back to Taiwan through being our version of Richard Gere.

I hope the movie will motivate Taiwanese to learn more and openly discuss their own political history.

Looking to 2008, if it arrives before the March presidential election, it could become an issue. Any candidates against freedom of speech?

[quote=“Poagao”] Almost every day in the Taipei Times there’s some rampant independence-now! letter from “Charles Hong” in Akron, Ohio or someplace like that.[/quote] How is that any different than the China Post opinion letters from foreigners in Taiwan complaining that A-Bian spoke Taiwanese instead of Mandarin when explaining the receipt scandal…? Also, about all of the unification-now! posters in this forum don’t live in Taiwan either. :loco:

[quote=“ShrimpCrackers”]Oh come on, cut William Tao some slack…

Would you go out and see his movie if it did come out? I’ve got the pre-production trailer on a CD somewhere and it looks good. My friend created the Formosa Betrayed website.

The problem is that I highly doubt any big name actors are going to pop out for this one.[/quote]

Is that on the net somewhere?

Vorkosigan

A screening for cast, crew and investors was held in Hollywood on 28 February. A report is available at TaiwaneseAmerican.org.

ive been wanting to see this, I see that James Van Der Beek from varsity blues is in this. Should be interesting, anyone know when is this movie gunna come out??

At this moment, no clue.
Looking forward to seeing it too, though. :slight_smile: