Wei Te-Sheng and Jiang Shen-Feng's Agricultural Dream 3: Marketing Agriculture Through Film, Yet the Government Shows No Mercy?
Editor's note: ⟨KANO⟩, written and produced by Wei Te-sheng, tells a baseball story set in rural Taiwan 80 years ago. Beyond the spirit of baseball, Director Wei also hoped to use the film to market Taiwan's agriculture, for example by building a town from the film set to draw people to visit actual farming sites. But whether it was ⟨Seediq Bale⟩ or this time's ⟨KANO⟩, both fell short at the final hurdle because of government efficiency and various regulatory restrictions. Below is a compilation of interviews with Director Wei.
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To recreate the everyday life behind the 1930s Taiwan "Kagi Norin baseball team" for ⟨KANO⟩, Wei Te-sheng and his filming team set their sights on land near the "former Chiayi Timber Factory" in Chiayi City. They hoped to match the scale of the Linkou Wushe Street set rebuilt for ⟨Seediq Bale⟩, building the old Chiayi Railway Station scene and the Chiayi Norin School gate at the "former Chiayi Timber Factory," while the adjacent open space would recreate Chiayi City's old street scene, roundabout and fountain.
The "former Chiayi Timber Factory" is located about 1 km southwest of "Beimen Station," the starting point of the Alishan Forest Railway. If the set could be preserved after filming was completed, it could not only link up with living heritage such as the forest railway, but also become a new highlight for marketing Chiayi and Taiwan's cultural and creative industries.
However, Wei Te-sheng's hopes now look likely to come to nothing. The original buildings and land ownership of the "former Chiayi Timber Factory" belong to the Chiayi Forest District Office of the Forestry Bureau under the Council of Agriculture, and the Chiayi Forest District Office only agreed to let the set be used until the end of ROC year 102. In other words, if ⟨KANO⟩ were to invest following the model of building Linkou Wushe Street for ⟨Seediq Bale⟩, the final outcome could still be demolition.
Originally, to film ⟨Seediq Bale⟩, Wei Te-sheng spent NT$80 million to level land in Linkou and build a roughly 3-hectare film and television base, creating scenes of a Wushe street and a public school from Taiwan's Japanese colonial period. It was designed by internationally renowned Japanese art director Yohei Taneda, and he hoped this film set, rarely seen in decades, would drive tourism.
During the period when the Linkou Wushe Street set was open from September last year to March this year, about 380,000 to 400,000 visits were made, generating countless cultural and creative output in ticket sales, on-site dining and peripheral sales. But in the end the Linkou Wushe Street set could not be preserved and faced demolition, and Wei Te-sheng did not hide that he was very discouraged.
Wei Te-sheng had originally hoped that this time, filming ⟨KANO⟩ could proceed with overall planning on the premise of preserving the old Chiayi city street set, avoiding a repeat of ⟨Seediq Bale⟩. But faced with a series of slow official administrative procedures and uncertainty, Wei Te-sheng could not help throwing up his hands and saying three times in a row: "I'm already old! I'm already old! I'm already old!" expressing his helplessness over the constraints of outdated regulations and snail-paced administrative efficiency.
He said ⟨KANO⟩ would no longer be carried out on the scale of the Linkou Wushe Street set, and whatever computer effects could achieve would be replaced by computers as much as possible.
This is Wei Te-sheng's first time combining agriculture with cultural and creative industries. What problems and challenges did he encounter in making the film? Below is the interview and compilation by a reporter from Newsmarket.
Q: What problems did Director Wei encounter while filming ⟨KANO⟩
Wei Te-sheng (hereinafter "Wei"):
In the process of planning ⟨KANO⟩, at first I very much wanted to say, wouldn't it be great to keep the set? But after coming into contact with the relevant government units, it seemed a bit difficult, so later I thought I should not spend so much energy discussing whether to preserve the set. As long as my set can be made to the point where my film effects can be achieved, I can use computers for the rest to meet the needs of my filmmaking.
Many people ask me whether ⟨KANO⟩ will also build a town in the way the Linkou Wushe Street set was built for ⟨Seediq Bale⟩. I think it's very difficult, because the experience of ⟨Seediq Bale⟩ left me very frustrated. The set was made with so much effort, and in the end it was still torn down.
Are you saying I should again follow the Linkou Wushe Street set and use the best scale to make ⟨KANO⟩? I'm not a fool anymore!
Snail-paced Government Efficiency Leaves Director Wei Sighing Helplessly
The Council of Agriculture, Taiwan Sugar Corporation, these old government units, their minds are forever stuck in the previous century. It's not that the officials are bad people; they are all quite decent, and they do things according to rules, but their mode of thinking just keeps spinning around inside the rules.
Whether it's agriculture or cultural and creative industries, when you run into the government, you can't say the officials lack the will. They also have the will to help, but due to many laws and regulations, there is no way to find a path that can be implemented.
From what I see now, Taiwan's biggest problem is being bound to death by its own laws and regulations, bound to death by its own rules, so that many people who want to get things done cannot stretch their abilities.
The times are changing, but (government) rules never change. The era has already entered a computerized, thousand-miles-a-day mode of change, yet (government) rules move as slowly as an ox. To change one rule you have to wait three years or five years, and by the time three years or five years have passed, it has long since changed into another era.
Ah, I think this is not the way. This really is not the way. Those in charge need to use more efficient methods to solve these problems of poor administrative efficiency.
I have also come into contact with many officials who are willing to help. However angry you are, you also feel their helplessness, but you don't know what you can say.
This time filming ⟨KANO⟩, although various government units came to assist, there were a whole lot of complicated administrative rules to get through. For example, for the land of the set, there had to be an architect's license, it had to be done according to building technical rules, and there also had to be an environmental impact assessment, and such-and-such assessment, and such-and-such assessment.
To build a set, it also involves changing the urban plan, and it also requires the support of superiors above. Although the responsible staff member has the will to handle it, according to his handling timeline, my film would never start shooting, because I'm already old! I'm already old! I'm already old!
When I make a film, it's impossible to plan for ten or twenty years before shooting; it must be produced within one or two years. As for whether this film can create follow-up scenery and benefits, I can only say, I have no way to keep accommodating your government; it is you who should accommodate me.
This is not a question of me serving the government; it is a question of whether your government is willing to accept the follow-up benefits created after my film is completed. If you are willing to accept them, the set can be kept; if you are not willing to accept them, the set cannot be kept (like the Linkou Wushe Street set). If it cannot be kept, then don't scold me for not giving it to you. I made it clear I wanted to give it to you; it's you who couldn't keep it!
We already count as an excellent manufacturer, and some officials also know that the filming process of ⟨KANO⟩ encountered difficulties, saying this favor must definitely be helped, and this thing (meaning preservation of the set) must definitely be done. I know the officials have the will to do it, but the subsequent administrative work progress is really too slow.
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