NCCU College of Communication students were selected as finalists in the 2022 Taiwan Pitch Nonfiction Short Film Fund. Out of 40 finalists from 16 countries, six were NCCU students. Prof. Douglas Kass, a Fulbright Visiting Professor in the IMICS Program, guided the students in his Documentary class to participate in this competition. The six finalists from NCCU were: Sunny Lai, Will Hsiao, Oğuz Solak, Syrus Sadvandi, and Stefan Maurycy Węgiełek from the IMICS program and Vera Chon from the master’s program in Communication, with each receiving USD 10,000 from the fund to produce their short documentaries about Taiwan in the coming few months.
The students' film proposals were aimed to feature unique Taiwan stories. Their projects covered an array of topics such as green fashion, daily collection of waste, aboriginal traditions, and LGBT culture.
“Recently, Taipei started to turn into a major hub for international media, “ said Oğuz Solak, second-year IMICS student who was born and raised in Turkey. His project is centered around Taiwan as a haven for journalists. “This is quite exciting and I feel privileged to be able to report this story to wider audiences.”
The Taiwan Pitch Fund is supported by the Ministry of Culture. All the finalists will receive mentorship from experts in the industry and training in the upcoming “Talent Village” workshop to prepare themselves for the making of their own documentaries. The final films of this inaugural round of competition will be premiered on TaiwanPlus, and three selected winners will be awarded cash prizes up to USD 10,000 in mid-November.
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Author: Sunny Lai (IMICS 110)
