Director Wei Te-sheng, who once injected passion into the Taiwanese film industry with films like "Cape No. 7" and "Seediq Bale," was shocked when news broke at the end of last year that the "Taiwan Trilogy" project had been cancelled. He even released a negative message saying, "I'll take my time filming, and I'll be happy if I finish it in this lifetime."
Last November, he didn't give up and submitted "Sancha Mountain" to the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion, winning the Creative Award from the Hakka Communication Committee . This seemed to reignite Director Wei's enthusiasm. On January 18th of this year, he visited fellow villagers in Guanshan, Beibei, and revealed for the first time his latest ideas and progress on filming "Sancha Mountain":
The historical context of this rescue operation is a period of anarchy in Taiwan. So many lives were lost in the effort to save these corpses, which is why I felt this subject matter could be explored effectively within this historical context.
After filming "Seediq Bale," I had to put this script on hold due to my own issues (physical and mental state), and only recently started rewriting and conceiving the script again... I'm sure I can write it, but I can't promise whether I can make it into a film. You're saying we have to actually film it in the mountains, which is really difficult, but we can use AI technology and the like to help us complete it...
Even after NFTs failed to salvage the situation, Taiwan's dream remains unbroken.
After raising NT$140 million, the filming of the "Taiwan Trilogy" went awry. Even when they tried to use blockchain technology NFTs for a bailout, it was still unsuccessful. At the 2025 film festival, Wei Te-sheng admitted that "there are many scripts, but no money," and joked that "don't make things too bad for yourself."
Now he is bringing his new project, "Three Forks Mountain," to the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion, his attitude has changed from "giving it a try" to being proactive, trying to rediscover his original intention and the public's affirmation of his Taiwanese dream.
How many people will support a person who restarts their personal dreams amidst controversy?
However, despite his renewed efforts to sell his work, the labels attached to Director Wei seem difficult to shake off. From his past statement, "Taiwan chooses TSMC," to his final statement, "Only I care about Taiwan's 400-year history," he has now fallen silent. From his past dream of building a lavish film studio and creating a Taiwanese amusement park that would never go out of print for 400 years, he has now turned to animation, and is now considering using AI assistance for "Three Forks Mountain." It is not hard to see that Director Wei has had his edges smoothed out, transforming from a high-spirited director into a more worldly and realistic artist.
But what the participants who supported Director Wei in the past think is hard to say. The activity zone contacted A-Qiang, who had previously participated in the fundraising and NFT activities for the "Taiwan Trilogy," for a brief interview. He stated:
I'm glad to see him get back on his feet and try new things again, but I won't trust him again. Being fooled once is enough.
It's clear that even though he's broke, he's still very good at creating conceptual presentations to raise funds, which to me is just repeating the same old tricks.
