New Taipei Documentary Award announces selected works, featuring diverse stories including migrant workers and space base
New Taipei City Government announced 12 selected works for the "2026 New Taipei City Documentary Award." These films cover diverse topics such as migrant workers, demolished cemeteries, anti-mining women, junior high girls' softball teams, and the vision of a national space base in rural Pingtung. Each director will receive a NT$350,000 filming grant.
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- 📰 Published: April 25, 2026 at 21:42
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Central News Agency
(Central News Agency reporter Huang Hsu-Sheng, New Taipei 25th) The New Taipei City Government today announced 12 selected works for the "2026 New Taipei City Documentary Award." Through stories of migrant worker interpreters, relocated public cemeteries, women against mining, a junior high school girls' softball team, and a national space base in Jiupeng, Pingtung, these films interpret the moving stories captured by directors' lenses.
This afternoon, at the National Film and Audiovisual Culture Center, the "New Taipei City Documentary Award" announced 12 selected short documentary films, each of which will receive a NT$350,000 filming grant to facilitate subsequent completion of their works.
In addition, the winner of the "Chi Po-Lin Environmental Documentary Award" is director Chen Xiang-Hao's "Life Towards the Earth." He has long been concerned with the changes in Taiwan's land and rural areas. The film documents the process of Song Ruo-Zhen, a young woman returning to her hometown, safeguarding agricultural land in Yilan County and launching a crowdfunding initiative called "One Ping Landowner" to set up agricultural rights on farmland. Farmers can then cultivate on it, allowing the land to be continuously cared for and sustainably managed.
The film narrates how this plan will prevent agricultural land from becoming B&Bs, farmhouses, or from being filled with concrete or even abandoned, showcasing the interaction between humans and the natural environment. Chen Xiang-Hao said that these young people protecting agricultural land are not concerned with urbanized life, but rather with spaces and environments that can nurture their bodies and minds, preserving the possibility for future generations to live close to the land.
Lin Ying-Yi, Deputy Executive Director of the "See Chi Po-Lin Foundation," stated that images possess the power to penetrate people's hearts. Through the lens, audiences are invited to re-establish their connection with the land from different perspectives. She hopes that the awarded teams will inherit director Chi Po-Lin's spirit of "letting images be the starting point for change" and transform it into concrete actions to protect the environment.
Among the other 12 documentary award-winning works, director Chu Chien-An's film documents the past of Jiupeng Village in Manzhou Township, Pingtung County, and envisions the village's future as a national space base. Director Chen Hsiao-Wen's film records how an Indonesian interpreter assists migrant workers who have experienced sexual harassment or assault.
There is also a film that investigates the history of the Kaohsiung Eight-One gas explosion in 2014 in the form of a criminal investigation. Another story focuses on a fisherman's search for self-identity, and an emotional story about a father who worked for Taipower and his dormitory that accompanied him throughout his life after retirement.
In addition to Taiwan's land, director Li Cho-Mei's film "Dreaming on the Pillow" reconstructs Macao in the 1990s through childhood memories, exploring the transformation from a Portuguese colony to its handover and its impact on family structures and personal growth. There is also a film narrating the memories of family trauma of the Xu family siblings, Taiwanese-Japanese who grew up in China.
Deputy Mayor Chu Ti-Chih stated that the city has so far assisted over a hundred directors in completing 159 short documentary films, and many of these films have developed into feature films shown in cinemas. New Taipei is an important platform and promoter for the documentary film industry. (Edited by Lee Hen-Shan) 1150425
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(Central News Agency reporter Huang Hsu-Sheng, New Taipei 25th) The New Taipei City Government today announced 12 selected works for the "2026 New Taipei City Documentary Award." Through stories of migrant worker interpreters, relocated public cemeteries, women against mining, a junior high school girls' softball team, and a national space base in Jiupeng, Pingtung, these films interpret the moving stories captured by directors' lenses.
This afternoon, at the National Film and Audiovisual Culture Center, the "New Taipei City Documentary Award" announced 12 selected short documentary films, each of which will receive a NT$350,000 filming grant to facilitate subsequent completion of their works.
In addition, the winner of the "Chi Po-Lin Environmental Documentary Award" is director Chen Xiang-Hao's "Life Towards the Earth." He has long been concerned with the changes in Taiwan's land and rural areas. The film documents the process of Song Ruo-Zhen, a young woman returning to her hometown, safeguarding agricultural land in Yilan County and launching a crowdfunding initiative called "One Ping Landowner" to set up agricultural rights on farmland. Farmers can then cultivate on it, allowing the land to be continuously cared for and sustainably managed.
The film narrates how this plan will prevent agricultural land from becoming B&Bs, farmhouses, or from being filled with concrete or even abandoned, showcasing the interaction between humans and the natural environment. Chen Xiang-Hao said that these young people protecting agricultural land are not concerned with urbanized life, but rather with spaces and environments that can nurture their bodies and minds, preserving the possibility for future generations to live close to the land.
Lin Ying-Yi, Deputy Executive Director of the "See Chi Po-Lin Foundation," stated that images possess the power to penetrate people's hearts. Through the lens, audiences are invited to re-establish their connection with the land from different perspectives. She hopes that the awarded teams will inherit director Chi Po-Lin's spirit of "letting images be the starting point for change" and transform it into concrete actions to protect the environment.
Among the other 12 documentary award-winning works, director Chu Chien-An's film documents the past of Jiupeng Village in Manzhou Township, Pingtung County, and envisions the village's future as a national space base. Director Chen Hsiao-Wen's film records how an Indonesian interpreter assists migrant workers who have experienced sexual harassment or assault.
There is also a film that investigates the history of the Kaohsiung Eight-One gas explosion in 2014 in the form of a criminal investigation. Another story focuses on a fisherman's search for self-identity, and an emotional story about a father who worked for Taipower and his dormitory that accompanied him throughout his life after retirement.
In addition to Taiwan's land, director Li Cho-Mei's film "Dreaming on the Pillow" reconstructs Macao in the 1990s through childhood memories, exploring the transformation from a Portuguese colony to its handover and its impact on family structures and personal growth. There is also a film narrating the memories of family trauma of the Xu family siblings, Taiwanese-Japanese who grew up in China.
Deputy Mayor Chu Ti-Chih stated that the city has so far assisted over a hundred directors in completing 159 short documentary films, and many of these films have developed into feature films shown in cinemas. New Taipei is an important platform and promoter for the documentary film industry. (Edited by Lee Hen-Shan) 1150425
Stand with facts, every sponsorship you make is a force to protect press freedom.
Download CNA's "First-hand News" APP to stay updated with the latest news.
The text, images, and videos on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, or publicly transmitted and utilized without authorization.