Taipei, June 30 (CNA) Taiwan's Public Television Service (PTS) signed a collaboration memorandum at a press conference Saturday with French-German public television station ARTE for program exchanges and further cooperation in the future.
ARTE, the first transnational public television station in Europe, which was launched in 1992, serves as a great model for PTS as it has been devoting most of its energy to culture and arts during its 15-year existence, winning accolades and becoming "the hope of television industry, " said PTS President Hu Yuan-huei before signing the memo with ARTE President Jerome Clemente.
"The ARTE experience" taught Taiwanese media valuable lessons in many ways, including television production, cultural diversity and reconciliation, Hu added.
ARTE, which boasts a NT$ 16 billion annual budget that comes exclusively from the French and German governments, had set from the beginning its goal to promote arts and culture, especially European culture, and encourage viewers to understand "how very different we are, and how similar at the same time, " said Clemente.
The birth of ARTE symbolized the reconciliation of Germany and France, which have fought each other for over a century, said Patricia Kortmann, Art/Event Coordinator of German Cultural Center in Taipei.
Jean-Claude Poimboeuf, Director of French Institute in Taipei, also pointed out that the creation of ARTE has been a small part of the European integration, and revealed just how large the scale of European integration is, and how hard Europe has tried to achieve unity.
Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien credited ARTE for its success in developing young film directors through funding and collaboration and hoped that the same efforts could be made at PTS, which has been collaborating with local young directors and making great efforts in promoting documentaries.
"Interaction between film makers and television during the collaboration process is still not running smoothly, but it isn't easy, and it has taken a lot for PTS to make it this far, "Hou said.