U.S. 2021 Comic-Con International San Diego, to be held online with 10 sci-fi works from Taiwan

According to the Ministry of Culture, America’s biggest comic convention, “Comic-Con International: San Diego” (聖地牙哥國際漫畫展), will be held on July 23-25, 2021, as a free, online event, Comic-Con@Home, due to the pandemic. Participating in its third consecutive year, the virtual Taiwan Exhibit has taken “Future Island” (未來島) as its theme and will present 10 original works of science fiction brimming with mystery and hope. It will also hold an online talk to discuss the original Taiwanese animation, “Mayfly Island” (蜉蝣之島), to present the unique cultural charm and stories of Taiwan, and to uncover some of the secrets and perseverance behind the animation process. Stay tuned!

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10 Taiwan sci-fi works are exhibited online. Photo/provided by the Ministry of Culture

This year, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China (Taiwan MOC, 台灣文化部) and the Taiwan Academy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles (駐洛杉磯辦事處臺灣書院), the Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association (CCPA, 社團法人中華動漫出版同業協進會) has helped program a virtual Taiwan Exhibit which will present 10 brilliant, handpicked creations, including FIRST DIVORCE, THEN MONSTERS? (打怪前先離婚？) (Aniyong, 安妮羊), DE BUG (祓魔) (Chou Yen, 周巘), SOUL (狩) (Chiyou, 蚩尤), OPUS: THE DAY WE FOUND EARTH 1(OPUS地球計畫) (PN Chen, 陳PN), Pirate Town (鐵男孩：山寨之城) (Richard Metson, 麥人杰), Mayfly Island (蜉蝣之島) (Evergreen Yeh, 葉長青), Mechanical Souls (囍宴機器人) (Yu-Yu Hsu, 徐幼禹), Pigsy Express (未來宅急便) (Li-Wei Chiu, 邱立偉), MU Empire (姆帝國)(KCN, 氫酸鉀) and Zigma (Oscar Tsai 奧斯卡& 6 co-creators). The Exhibit signals a Taiwanese cyber-punk vision of the future and takes the audience on an escape from reality and the hardships of the pandemic, through hope and the unexpected future of the world to come.

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2021 Comic-Con International, San Diego, United States. Photo/provided by the Ministry of Culture

Moreover, the exclusive animation sketches of Mayfly Island will also be disclosed during the talk. Dr. Wan-Chun Ma (馬萬鈞博士), winner of the Scientific and Technical Achievement Award at the Academy Awards (美國影藝學院科技成就獎), Klimt Lin (林正庭), director of the Taiwanese animation Mayfly Island, and its screenwriter, Shang-Chiao Li (李尚喬), have all been invited to share on Mayfly Island’s story and worldview, ecological crisis, and Austronesian culture. They will also discuss the power of Taiwanese animation, challenges faced during the animation process, how 2D and 3D technologies complement each other and how they can innovate animation content and special effects production. All are welcome to watch the online talk through the Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles’ YouTube channel. For more highlights and the latest updates from the Taiwan Exhibit, please visit: https://www.comic-con.org/.