The Fantastic Journey of the Tumbler: A Rural Screening Tour with the National Mobile Cinema
Editor's note: "The Fantastic Journey of the Roly-Poly Toy" is a film work by Taiwanese director Lin Fu-ching. Its story begins with the interaction between adults and children, featuring both live-action performances and animation. The content is wonderfully engaging, and it was once selected for the "Rhode Island Film Festival," where it received extremely high praise; the animated portions also won recognition at the "Sapporo Animation Festival"!
Unfortunately, such a good film could not secure many theatrical screening opportunities in Taiwan, and many rural children were left with no chance to enjoy this unique work made for them. Therefore, the film planned a "National Mobile Theater Line," hoping to bring the film on tour to 319 townships in Taiwan through the gathering of groups from various places. Below are the director's thoughts on the creative process that he wants to share with everyone, as well as what he wants to say.
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Carrying Stories to the Remotest Places A Promise
In 2008, while shooting the documentary "A Promise Under the Rainbow," we came to know a group of children with osteosarcoma, and it also changed my stereotyped perception of children with cancer. In the past, I always felt that children with cancer were pitiful, but after meeting this group of children and feeling their courage in the face of illness, and receiving the positive power they radiate, I truly came to understand these people. They are not pitiful; they are admirable.
Starting from this moving experience, I began working on the script for "The Fantastic Journey of the Roly-Poly Toy," to spread this moving feeling to more people, and to spread the power of these children with osteosarcoma, the power of the roly-poly toy, to every corner... Carrying this promise, I set off from beneath the rainbow!
Immediately afterward, it was as if a giant engine were driving the entire plan. Although this was a highly difficult film, with no funding or team in place, once the engine started, we sailed all the way without ever stopping. Producer Hui-chuan said: "It was as if we crossed a Sahara." It took three years, and a film combining live-action shooting, animation, and composite special effects was finally completed thanks to the team's unwavering persistence. Looking back, our first footprint had long been buried by the yellow sand, but as we move forward, there are still more deserts waiting for us to conquer.
A Movie Theater on the Move
In April 2012, the journey moved from the desert into a magical secret room -- the cinema -- and the film was released. Because "The Fantastic Journey of the Roly-Poly Toy" was allotted only seven screens, we thought the box office was still fairly good; it sold more than 2 million, and the split share came to more than 1 million, almost exactly covering the loss in Taitung. And how did the loss in Taitung come about? To let rural children see the film at the same time, we chose Taitung, which has no cinema, and opened our own theater line, letting elementary school children and preschoolers watch the film for free, and even hired buses to bring people in from remote areas.
The box office proceeds from 10,000 admissions on the theater line exactly subsidized the 10,000-person cost in Taitung, breaking even! This kind of arithmetic was learned from the children with osteosarcoma: humility and optimism, and room for all setbacks -- only at the valley floor can one see the peak.
At the same time as the theater line, we also produced "The Fantastic Journey of the Roly-Poly Toy" into Taiwan's first theatrical film with audio description, giving visually impaired compatriots a chance to enter the cinema and enjoy a movie. At the same time, in order to keep our promise, the film chose to hold its premiere at the Jieshou Hall of Taipei Veterans General Hospital, which we called the "Ward Cinema." During this period, the "Ward Cinema" traveled to every hospital with seriously ill children, letting the roly-poly spirit inspire every little fighter.
And this concept of a mobile cinema was later extended to townships and villages, becoming the "Mobile Theater Line."
