The First Kaohsiung Film Festival

　Cosponsored by the Kaohsiung Cultural Foundation, Tainan National College of the Arts, and KCG's Department of Information (DOI), the first Kaohsiung Film Festival proved to be a big success. With this festival held in Kaohsiung, the KCG hopes to remedy the north-south cultural imparity, bringing film festivals closer to citizens in southern Taiwan.

　A small but beautiful international film festival, the first Kaohsiung Film Festival mainly featured Asian films with three themes: the "Korean Focus," "Crossing Asian Frontiers," and "Taiwan Experience." It had screened altogether 37 movies from 9 Asian countries. In addition, a large seminar on "transborder joint venture on and promotion of cinema in Asia" was held during the film festival.

　Guan Bi-ling, director of DOI, said although the budget for the first Kaohsiung Film Festival was very limited, the DOI had tried to make it a reality so that people in southern Taiwan could enjoy good movies without traveling far distances to Taipei to attend a film festival.

　Currently the DOI is planning a movie library in Kaohsiung. Movie fans and researchers in southern Taiwan will greatly benefit from the library when it formally opens at the end of 2002.

關懷亞洲‧放眼國際‧第一屆「高雄電影節」

　　第一屆「高雄電影節」在熱情影迷依依不捨下圓滿完成。由高雄市文化基金會主辦、高雄市政府新聞處策劃執行、國立台南藝術學院承辦的「高雄電影節」，是高雄市政府首度舉辦的大型國際影展，讓南台灣觀眾有機會參與國際影展盛會，平衡向來重北輕南的文化失衡現象。

　　高雄電影節是一次小而美的國際影展，選片方向以「亞洲片」為主，共分三大專題，分別是「韓國焦點」、「亞洲跨界」及「台灣經驗」，共有來自台、港、中、韓、日、泰、星、印度、印尼等９個國家、37部片共襄盛舉。

　　新聞處管碧玲處長表示，高雄電影節是以非常拮据的經費籌辦，想到長期以來台灣的影展活動均以台北為主，南台灣的觀眾想觀賞影展影片都必須北上，這是促使新聞處想要推動屬於南台灣影展的動機。引進好的電影讓高雄人觀賞，及邀請亞洲電影有影響力人士來高雄對談亞洲電影，是本次電影節的二個重要方向。新聞處也正積極籌建高雄電影圖書館，預計91年底正式開館，屆時將可提供熱愛電影文化，及研究電影藝術的南台灣民眾一個探討鑽研的空間。