Taipei, Nov. 30 (CNA) Taiwanese-American filmmaker William Tiao was glad to learn of enormous positive response to a promotion tour of Taiwan for a movie planned for 2008 to be titled Formosa Betrayed, which looks to "shine the spotlight on Taiwan."
He told CNA Thursday that he was happy with the public and private support for the movie in Taiwan, adding that many local businessmen have shown interest in investing in the movie, which will have a US$12 million budget.
Inspired by a true story, Formosa Betrayed aims to "enlighten a global audience" with the story of the murder of a Taiwanese professor who was killed for his courage in speaking out for an independent and democratic Taiwan.
"I think this is a story that nobody else can tell except me, because most people don't know the story, " said Tiao, who gave up a political career in 2002 after 10 years in Washington, D.C. and moved to Los Angeles to start his entertainment business.
Born in Kansas, Tiao said he heard a lot of stories about Taiwan's White Terror period from his parents, who had always been active in Taiwan's independence and democracy movements. Tiao said he knew from the age of six that he would work in politics.
Frustrated by Taiwan's lack of international recognition and support during his time in Washington, Tiao decided to take a different path in 2002 and moved to Hollywood, where he learned from scratch about acting, writing and filmmaking and came up with the Formosa Betrayed plan two years ago.
With his childhood memories, political skills, and Taiwan's presidential election and Beijing Olympics in 2008, Tiao thinks 2008 will be perfect timing for the release of the film and hopes it will be a time for the whole world to take a good hard look at Taiwan and "start a discussion" on Taiwan's rich history and culture.
The movie also seeks to offer an opportunity for Taiwanese to "reconcile with the past before moving ahead" and to reflect on Taiwan's history "from a fresh perspective as a third-party observer, " Tiao added.
The movie takes its title from a book published in 1965 by former U.S. Consul George Kerr, who documented his observation of the 228 incident of 1947, in which the beating of a Taiwanese woman selling unlicensed cigarettes by then-ruling Kuomintang (KMT) police led to rioting that spread all over the island and was brutally crushed by KMT troops sent over from China -- the start of the KMT's infamous White Terror purge of "dissidents."