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Funscreen Weekly (Chinese: 放映週報) is a Taiwanese online newspaper that provides news, reviews, and interviews about films. Originally founded as Funscreen Biweekly in 2005 as a student publication for National Central University, it later became a non-profit online newspaper co-owned by the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute. Funscreen Weekly is the first online publication and one of only two currently operating media outlets in Taiwan that focuses on providing film reviews, and it received the Outstanding Contribution Award in the 14th Taipei Film Awards.

History

In 1993, Lin Wen-chi (林文淇), a doctorate graduate in literature, was offered a professorship in the Department of English at National Central University (NCU), introducing film studies courses to the university and beginning his career as a film scholar.[2] In the following years, Lin wrote film reviews for various newspapers and magazines, but only occasionally and by invitation.[2] In 2004, NCU established the Cimage Taiwan Film Company (中映電影公司) to support the entrepreneurial efforts of its graduates in the film industry, and in 2005, Cimage began publishing a film-themed newspaper titled Funscreen Biweekly (放映雙週報), which operated as a school publication.[2] It was named Funscreen in English because its Chinese name “放映” is pronounced similarly to “Fun”.[3] The first issue was published in January 2005, featuring Hou Hsiao-hsien‘s Café Lumière as its cover story.[3] Lin served as the guiding teacher, and contributing writers volunteered their work without compensation.[2] The Reporter referred to 2005 as a low point for the Taiwanese film industry, noting that mainstream media seldom covered domestic films, and acknowledged Funscreen for “providing valuable documentary information about that period”.[1] Lin cited inspiration from film director Tsai Ming-liang‘s film promotion efforts at university campuses for founding the newspaper, and he later served as its chief editor.[4]

Lin Wen-chi, the founder of Funscreen Weekly.

Due to a lack of operating funds, the newspaper was initially set to cease publication after a year and a half, but it was taken over by NCU’s Film Studies Center, continuing as a non-profit publication funded by the Government Information Office.[5] It shifted to a weekly publication schedule and changed its title to Funscreen Weekly.[2] The newspaper became the first online publication in Taiwan focusing on the Taiwanese film industry, offering film reviews, interviews, film news, and commentaries with an emphasis on filmmaking and film aesthetics.[4][5] In 2011, it conducted a survey among filmmakers and critics to vote on the best ten Taiwanese films of the past decade.[6] In 2012, Lin Wen-chi became the director of the Chinese Taipei Film Archive, where he brought Funscreen under the institution’s management to alleviate its financial difficulties.[3] As of 2012, the newspaper had approximately 40,000 subscribers, with all writers being NCU students and no full-time writers on staff.[5] That same year, Funscreen Weekly received the Outstanding Contribution Award in the 14th Taipei Film Awards,[4] becoming the first and only non-individual recipient of the award until the Taipei Documentary Filmmakers’ Union won in the same category in the 18th Taipei Film Awards in 2016.[7]

In mid-autumn 2014, a collection of film reviews and critiques titled Funscreen on Paper (紙上放映) was released, edited by Shinie Wang, a Funscreen writer who joined the publication since January 2009.[8] In 2020, the Chinese Taipei Film Archive was restructured and renamed the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI), while Funscreen continued to operate under the institute.[3] As of November 2024, Funscreen Weekly remains one of only two active media outlets which primarily focuses on providing film reviews in Taiwan, alongside a printed publication Film Appreciation Journal, with both publications currently co-owned and published by the TFAI.[1][9] In 2025, it won the Special Contribution Award in the 6th Taiwan Film Critics Society Awards [zh].[10][11]

Reception

Film critic Bae Dongmi said that when “discussing 21st-century Taiwanese and Asian cinema, one cannot pass through Funscreen Weekly“.[3] Scholar Ama H. Vanniarachchy wrote that Funscreen “focus[es] entirely on film reviews and discussions, giving space for deeper reflection and debate”, and that it “do[es] not exist to flatter friends or promote stars”, but rather “to analyse and educate — and in the process, they help audiences become more discerning”.[12]

Film critic Hsieh Chia-chin, however, found that the magazine was “somewhat burdened” by “its mission to support local cinema and engage in dialogue with Taiwanese filmmakers and scholars, making it less useful as a reference for general audiences, and less inclined to discuss foreign films”.[1]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee Result Ref.
2012 14th Taipei Film Awards Outstanding Contribution Award N/a Won [13]
2025 6th Taiwan Film Critics Society Awards [zh] Special Contribution Award N/a Won [10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 孫文臨 (23 November 2024). “從指路明燈到共鳴回聲──網路筆戰下，當代台灣影評的多音變奏”. The Reporter (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 August 2025. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Lin, Wen-chi (20 January 2011). 我和電影一國：林文淇電影評論集 (in Chinese). Bookman Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 9789574453962. Archived from the original on 24 January 2025. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Bae, Dongmi (10 April 2026). “[특집] 온라인 영화잡지도 진지할 수 있을까 – 대만 영화잡지 <펀스크린>의 여정” [[Special Feature] Can an Online Film Magazine Be Serious? – The Journey of Taiwanese Film Magazine Funscreen Weekly.]. Cine21 (in Chinese). Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  4. ^ a b c 蕭采薇 (21 July 2012). “台北電影節／卓越貢獻獎脫稿演出 林文淇台上募款”. ETtoday (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 15 December 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  5. ^ a b c 王欣雯 (20 August 2012). “電影熱情永存，「卓越貢獻」的《放映週報》永續”. NCU News (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  6. ^ “十年最佳國片票選 台灣電影多樣化”. PTS News (in Chinese). 2 August 2011. Archived from the original on 23 January 2025. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  7. ^ “2016台北電影獎 卓越貢獻獎 得主 台北市紀錄片工會”. Yahoo! News (in Chinese). 10 June 2016. Archived from the original on 23 January 2025. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  8. ^ Wang, Shinie (15 October 2014). “中途曝光––放映週報新訪談集《紙上放映》編者序”. Funscreen Weekly (in Chinese). Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  9. ^ “About Us – Research”. Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (in Chinese). Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  10. ^ a b 蕭采薇 (23 May 2025). “影評人協會獎出爐！喜翔、楊貴媚首同台封帝后　《小雁與吳愛麗》奪雙料大獎”. ETtoday (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 22 June 2025. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  11. ^ 廖福生 (22 May 2026). “第六屆台灣影評人協會揭獎 喜翔、楊貴媚擒最佳演員獎”. United Daily News (in Chinese). Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  12. ^ Vanniarachchy, Ama H. (22 December 2025). “The Lost Art of Criticism”. Ceylon Today. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  13. ^ “台北電影節 《金城小子》獲百萬首獎”. Liberty Times (in Chinese). 21 July 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2024.

Further reading

  • Lin, Wen-chi; Wang, Yu-yan (17 May 2010). 台灣電影的聲音：放映週報vs台灣影人 [The Voice of Taiwan Cinema: Funscreen Weekly vs. Taiwan Filmmakers] (in Chinese). Taipei: Bookman Books. ISBN 9789574453511.