2,000 tickets were sold within three days since sales started
The tickets for the 2018 TIAF go on sale as the program guide at Liuchuan Canal Waterfront receives huge response
Tickets for “Funan” unveiled on the day are available while all 72 screenings are open for booking
As an annual event, the 2018 Taichung International Animation Festival (TIAF) is scheduled to take place between 11th and 16th October at Taichung Showtime Cinemas S2 and Kbro Cinemas. The tickets went on sale last Friday (21st September) and more than 2,000 tickets were sold within three days, breaking the records of the TIAF ticket sales. At the program guide held at the Liuchuan Canal Waterfront, in which more than 500 audiences attend, it is announced that two screenings of Funan, the winner of the Crystal Prize for Best Feature Film at the 2018 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, are included in this year’s program. In total, there are 72 screenings, showing 241 films at the 2018 TIAF; all the tickets can be purchased on ibon machines nationwide, and we urge the audience to seize this great opportunity.
On the Mid-autumn Festival weekend, the TIAF host the first program guide at the Liuchuan Canal Waterfront. The TIAF team not only introduce this year’s program to the public but also show On Happiness Road, a Taiwanese animated film. In addition to piquing the audiences’ interest in animation, the program guide gives them a better idea of the films shown at the Festival. There are around 500 audiences attending the event, from whom enthusiastic response is received.
Deputy Director of the Taichung Film Development Foundation Beline Wu, who attends the talk, expresses that more than half of the tickets to the opening film, Baryon and the closing film A Dog’s Life were sold on the first day of the sales, and the highly anticipated Japanese animation Penguin Highway was sold out soon after the sales began. The family films and features, which have always been popular with the audiences are also doing well at the box-office. Director in Focus – Paul Bush and Studio in Focus – Cube Creative are the two categories about which the Foundation has received most enquiries. Wu reminds the audiences of the International Competition since there are some groundbreaking features expected to be seen in this category, and they are definitely what the animation professionals fight to see.
At the program guide, the TIAF adds another film to the program – Funan, which won the top prize at the 2018 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Directed by Cambodian French director Denis Do, Funan is his first feature-length animated film. Based on Do’s mother’s experience under the Khmer Rouge regime, it tells the story of a young mother, who gets separated from her son during the migration and how she, supported by her iron will to find her son, survives all the ordeal. The moving tale attracts Bérénice Bejo (winner of Best Actress at the Cannes) and Louis Garrel (The Dreamers) to voice the characters in the film.
The 2018 TIAF is held between October 11th (Thursday) and 16th (Tuesday) at Taichung Showtime Cinemas S2 and Kbro Cinemas. The tickets can be purchased on ibon machines nationwide and the website. On the evening of September 29th, another program guide-Bookstore Cinema will be held in EP-Books and the TIAF Award-winning films in the previous years will be screened. For more information on the festival events and filmmakers’ attendance, please visit the TIAF official website (twtiaf.com) and Facebook fan page (facebook.com/tiaf.taichung).
