Entertainment

'Tiger Stripes' Producer Backs Taiwan First Feature 'Uncle' at Busan

Jonah VillalbaPublished 38m ago2 min readBased on 5 sources
'Tiger Stripes' Producer Backs Taiwan First Feature 'Uncle' at Busan
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

A boy and his uncle in rural Taiwan are at the heart of the next project for the producer of Cannes winner “Tiger Stripes.”

“Uncle,” the first feature written and directed by Taiwan filmmaker Yen Hao-hsuan, has been selected for the Asian Project Market in Busan, Variety reported on Oct. 11. The market is a pitching forum where filmmakers present unfinished films to potential backers, distributors and festival programmers.

The story is set in rural Taiwan from 1997 to 2000. It centres on 10-year-old Wen and his uncle A-Tsik, who has an intellectual disability.

The producers are Patrick Mao Huang and Sung Chin-hsuan, according to the same report. Huang is the founder of Flash Forward Entertainment. His earlier producing credits include “Tiger Stripes,” which won the Grand Prize in Critics’ Week, the sidebar for first and second films at Cannes, in 2023.

Flash Forward is presenting “Uncle” alongside wpd films and Soseki Studio. The project is backed by a development grant from TAICCA, Taiwan’s state-backed agency for creative content. It was developed in the New Director Workshop held by the Taipei Film Festival.

Yen arrives with festival form. His 2024 short “Caged Dog” earned a nomination for live action short at the Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-language film awards based in Taiwan.

Busan’s Asian Project Market runs within the Asian Contents & Film Market, the industry arm of the Busan International Film Festival. The 2026 edition runs from Oct. 10 to 13, and “Uncle” is listed as No. 24 on the official project list, according to the Busan Asian Project Market.

The team is not stopping at Busan. “Uncle” has also been selected for the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market, another industry event where producers seek the last portion of money needed to get a film into production.

What makes this stand out is the route. New directors often spend years moving a first feature from workshop to grant to market. Yen is now working that chain in two countries at once.

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