Wei Te-sheng

Wei Te-Sheng
Born (1969-08-16) August 16, 1969
Yongkang City, Tainan County, Taiwan (now Yongkang District, Tainan City)
Influenced by Edward Yang
Wei Te-sheng
Traditional Chinese 魏德聖

Wei Te-Sheng is the director of Cape No. 7, currently the highest grossing domestic Taiwanese film and the second highest grossing film in Taiwanese history.

Early life

Wei was born and raised in Tainan. His family ran a clockmaker's shop and attended a Presbyterian church.[1] He spent his childhood in the Yongkang District. According to an interview, Wei watched Taiwanese films "in old, small cinema halls and at an outdoor theater near where he lived." Wei said "It was a bit like Cinema Paradiso". The first Hollywood film Wei watched was Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America while Wei was doing his military service.[2]

Career

Wei studied Electrical Engineering in Far Eastern Vocational School (Today's Far East University) in Tainan. In 1993 or 1994 when Wei was 26, he entered the studio of director Edward Yang as a grip assistant. Later he became an assistant director on Yang's movie Mahjong (1996). Later Wei worked odd jobs to fund the his own short films, including Three Dialogues (1996) and Before Dawn (1997), which both won a Golden Harvest Award. In an interview Wei said that Yang "taught me to be a perfectionist and not sacrifice one's vision, even on a tight budget...He also told me to use my own life experience and not copy anybody." Wei also said "Having mundane jobs that didn't require me to think allowed me to concentrate on my films in the evening".[2]

In 1999, Wei's drama About July, won "a special mention at the Alcan Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema at the Vancouver International Film Festival." [2] He later worked on Chen Kuo-fu's movie, Double Vision in 2002. Double Vision is one of Columbia Pictures' attempts to make Asian films at the time. On this film Wei worked as an assistant director and worked with producer Jimmy Huang. Their collaboration was important to Wei's career, as Huang would later produce Wei's Cape No. 7 and Seediq Bale. In addition, the big international investment, technology and effects employed by the film impressed Wei to pursue big-budget filmmaking.[3][4]

Cape No. 7

Main article: Cape No. 7

Since 1996, Wei had been trying to make the war epic Seediq Bale, but he could not raise the funds. Double Vision's director, Chen Kuo-fu, suggested that he make a film that could win the people's trust. In July 2004, Wei read about a Yunlin postman who successfully delivered a piece of mail addressed in the old Japanese style.[5] Wei decided to make the film, Cape No. 7, based on this story, in the hopes of financing Seediq Bale. Wei finished the script by the end of 2006,[6] and filmed it in the fall of 2007 in Hengchun Peninsula of Pingtung County.

As the production went over budget, Wei had problems securing additional capital; he subsequently refinanced his home and put his family NTD 30 million (nearly USD 900,000) in debt before the release. During filming Wei could barely afford the film rolls and lodging for the crew.[7][8] Wei later said this film's zealous reception should help him manage his debts.[9]

Wei believed "that the films that hit the screens before the end of summer vacation in 2007 were all 'safe bets'", because they avoided competition from Hollywood blockbusters. Wei followed this theory when he released Cape No. 7 in 2008. Besides, Wei focused on the promotion of the film.[10] The film was released in August, 2008. It eventually became the 2nd top-selling film in Taiwan history.[11] It raked in 530 million TWD (17.9 million USD) domestically, setting an all-time box office record for a Taiwanese film.[12]

Teng Sue-feng points out that Wei got 30% of the profit of Cape No. 7 ("about NT$140 million"). Also, Cape No. 7 earned Wei a subsidy of about NTD 100 million from Government Information Office.[4]

Seediq Bale

Main article: Seediq Bale

Seediq Bale was released in 2011, but Wei began to work on the film much earlier. According to an interview, Wei got the idea to make the film Seediq Bale in 1996 when he saw a protest demanding land to be returned to Taiwanese aborigines. Wei began to study history relevant to the aborigines and decided to make a film about chief Mona Rudao.[4][13]

In late 2003, Wei raised NTD 2.5 million and shot a five-minute demonstration film in order to further raise NTD 300 million (USD 10 million) to shoot the complete film.[14][15][16] The fundraising failed, and director Chen Kuo-fu advised Wei to make another film to win the trust of investors, so Wei turned his attention to make Cape No. 7.[14]

After the success of Cape No. 7 in 2008 Wei returned to work on Seediq Bale. However, in 2009 Typhoon Morakot destroyed the set, and the cost grew from NTD 200 million to NTD 600 million.[16] Aside from technical problems, Wei said that he had to direct the film and raise the money at the same time, and the company often ran out of money. Wei said this made him nervous and grouchy, and he had to rely on the patience of the family and employees.[15]

The film was released in September 2011, both locally and internationally.

Personal life

Wei is married and has one son.

Filmography

Director

Year Title Awards
1995Face in the Evening
1996Three Dialogues
1997Before Dawn
1999About July
2007Cape No. 745th Golden Horse Awards for Best Film Voted by Audience (觀眾票選最佳影片)
45th Golden Horse Awards for Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year (年度台灣傑出電影)
45th Golden Horse Awards for Outstanding Taiwanese Film Maker of the Year (年度台灣傑出電影工作者)
Nominated: 45th Golden Horse Awards for Best Director
Nominated: 45th Golden Horse Awards for Best Film
2011Seediq Bale48th Golden Horse Awards for Best Film
48th Golden Horse Awards for Best Film Voted by Audience (觀眾票選最佳影片)
Nominated: 48th Golden Horse Awards for Best Director

Assistant Director

Year Title Awards
1996Mahjong46th Berlin International Film Festival, Honourable Mention

Producer

Year Title Awards
2014Kano(Also Writer) Osaka Asian Film Festival 2014, Audience Award

References

  1. ↑ (In Chinese) 吳佳玲。〈你所不知道的導演魏德聖（上）〉。《今日基督教報》。2011/9/10。Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop (November 7, 2008). "The director Wei Te-sheng's long road to fame". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
  3. ↑ Teng Sue-feng. (Dec 2009). "Can the Blockbuster Save Taiwan Film?". Taiwan Panorama. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
  4. 1 2 3 Teng Sue-feng (Feb 2009). tr. by Christopher J. Findler. "Biggest Production in Taiwan Film History-Seediq Bale". Taiwan Panorama. Retrieved 2012-02-28. Even more bizarre is the fact that what belongs to the children of Taiwan (the Aborigines), we don't return to them, while what doesn't concern us (the return of Hong Kong to China), occupies our hearts. [The Chinese version is more detailed]
  5. ↑ (Chinese)茂伯的本尊 郵差丁滄源
  6. ↑ (Chinese)魏德聖的　［賽德克巴萊］　血淚史
  7. ↑ (Chinese)《海角七號》佩甄挺窮導演魏德聖
  8. ↑ (Chinese)張沁妍海角七號背後 不為人知的辛酸
  9. ↑ (Chinese)《海角七號》票房進逼6千萬 3千萬債務解套
  10. ↑ Teng Sue-feng (Feb 2009). tr. by Jonathan Barnard. "Taiwan's Film Industry after Cape No. 7". Taiwan Panorama. He observed that the films that hit the screens before the end of summer vacation in 2007 were all "safe bets" at the box office.
  11. ↑ (Chinese)大家都很關心的《海角七號》台北票房（全台請逕自乘以2）
  12. ↑ Wang, George Chun Han (2012). No Signs of Slowing Down: The Renaissance of Taiwanese Cinema. In Abraham Ferrer (Ed.) Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Program Catalog (pp. 24-29). Los Angeles: Visual Communications.
  13. ↑ 家明 [Kaming] (2011-09-25). 魏德聖訪問 帶根帶土的藝文故事 [Interview with Wei Te-sheng]. Ming Pao(明報) (in Chinese). Retrieved 28 February 2012. 原住民在爭取不可能還給他們的土地，台灣在爭取一個不屬於台灣的香港。我們失去的真的只有土地而已？.
  14. 1 2 藍祖蔚 [Lan Tzu-wei, tonyblue] (2008-09-14). 海角七號：專訪魏德聖 [Cape No. 7: Interview with Wei Te-sheng]. 藍色電影夢 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2012-02-28.
  15. 1 2 Polly Peng (Sep 2011). tr. by Geof Aberhart. "Fighting the Good Fight: The Bloody Battleground of Seediq Bale". Taiwan Panorama: 046–054. Retrieved 2012-02-28. Although NT$130 million of Seediq Bale's NT$700-million budget was covered by a strategic grant from the Government Information Office, finding the rest was no small challenge for Wei.
  16. 1 2 Lan Tzu-wei (Sep 4, 2011). "INTERVIEW:'Director's charisma turned film dream into reality". Taipei Times. trans. Jake Chung. Tu Duu-chih (杜篤之), the recording artist of the film, was interviewed. p. 2. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
Awards and achievements
Golden Horse Award
Preceded by
Ang Lee
for Lust, Caution		 The Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year
2008
for Cape No. 7 		Succeeded by
Lee Lung-Yue
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