[2011.09.03] VIVIAN HSU IS CONCERNED ABOUT BEING CUT

Landy Wen, Vivian Hsu, Luo Mei-Ling

On the second day of the 68th Venice Film Festival, one of the three Chinese language films in competition, SEEDIQ BALE, took center stage. Producer John Woo (Ng Yu Sum) without any hesitation gave the film 99.5 points and complimented director Wei Te-Sheng. "He has broken through the Chinese film border and achieved world film standard."

The NT$700 million epic production SEEDIQ BALE two days ago held a press conference in Venice. The foreign media was deeply interested in the Taiwan aboriginal history. Their responses were the most overwhelming during the male lead's folk song performance and the beheading of Japanese soldiers.

A reporter asked about the historical issue of Japan ruled Taiwan. Wei Te-Sheng explained, "This makes grasping love and hate in it very difficult. It's like if you give me a beautiful piece of glass bead but ruining the ground on my home."

The media of course asked about the film "nationality" issue because the Venice Film Festival classified SEEDQI as Taiwan, China production and upset the people of Taiwan. Wei Te-Sheng responded, "With many things as long as you just don't look, don't think but know where the goal is, then you just head toward that goal and wouldn't get lost."

Due to its film length, Wei Te-Sheng could only cut SEEDIQ into a 150 minute festival version. It is quite different from the latter two part release in Taiwan. Many plot lines were removed. He bowed to the cast on hand in apology. One of the lead actresses Vivian Hsu (Tsui Yeuk Suen) said, "He has already apologized to me six times." Earlier after the media screening ended, she could not wait to ask reporters. "Was my (role) still there? Was it cut?" When she found out the answer, she could not help but laugh and said, "Being able to participate in a Wei Te-Sheng film, I am already very lucky."

Successfully breaking into Hollywood, Ng Yu Sum also sang Director Wei's high praise. "I thank Wei Te-Sheng for giving me this chance, for me to participate in this film's producer job and learned about a piece of history that I overlooked." He continued to beat his own drum, "SEEDIQ not only wrote a great epic but at the same time also expressed a very high ethics and human dignity."