The biennial Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF) will take place from 22 – 31 October at Taichung City’s National Museum of Fine Arts.
Established in 1998, TIDF is the second largest documentary festival in Asia, attracting 60,000 patrons and showcasing around 120 films every two years.
Arranged by Taiwan’s Council for Cultural Affairs, the festival aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas between Taiwanese and international filmmakers, as well as broaden the horizons of Taiwan’s audiences.
Director Shen Ko-shang, winner of the festival’s Taiwan Award in 2008 for his documentary Baseball Boys, says the award was the turning point of his life as it allowed him to meet foreign directors and showcase his award-winning work to countries worldwide.
In line with this goal, South African filmmakers are strongly encouraged to register online at www.tidf.org.tw and submit their works to the festival. Local filmmakers entering the competition stand a chance of winning either the grand prize of US$10,000 for best international feature-length documentary or US$5,000 for best international short documentary.
Film and video documentaries completed after 1 July 2008 are eligible for submission. There are no entry fees and the deadline for submissions is 15 June 2010.
Further information can be obtained by emailing Taipei Liaison Office in the RSA on inftaiwan5@telkomsa.net
