TAIWAN CLOSES OLDEST STUDIO

The Central Motion Picture Corp, Taiwan's oldest studio, was bought from the government in December 2005 by the China Times Group and is now being closed down, department by department. The soundstages and printing department have been closed and the production department is expected to follow. The key players are being tight lipped about this, but some folks think it was bought as a real estate deal and there's an investigation into whether a fair market value was charged (the studio was bought for US$121 million in cash, and the assumption of US$160 million in debt).

Founded back around 1943, the Central Motion Picture Corp. has been used by every major Taiwanese filmmaker, from Ang Lee, to Edward Yang, to Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang. But now no new director will ever get that chance and this continues what has looked to be Taiwan slowly shutting down its film industry, piece by piece, over the past 15 years. Wanna know what a country looks like with a dying film industry? Check out Taiwan.