March of Happiness is a 1999 Taiwanese film directed by Lin Cheng-sheng. It tells the story of a teenage romance in a performing troupe set against the backdrop of the Japanese occupation and the 228 Massacre. Several characters are either historical or based on historical people.

March of Happiness
film poster
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Literal meaningTianma Tea House
Hanyu PinyinTiān Mǎ Chá Fáng
Hokkien POJThian-má Tê Pâng
Directed byLin Cheng-sheng
Written by
  • Yeh Chin-sheng
  • Tseng Yu-wen
Screenplay byKo So-ching
Produced byYeh Chin-sheng
Starring
CinematographyTsai Cheng-hui
Edited by
  • Chen Hsiao-jing
  • Hu Ju-sung
Music byChen Ming-chang
Production
company
Green Apple Films
Release date
  • 1999 (1999)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryTaiwan
LanguagesTaiwanese Hokkien
Japanese
Mandarin
Shanghainese

The film was Taiwan's official Best Foreign Language Film submission at the 72nd Academy Awards, but did not manage to receive a nomination.[1] The film was also screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.[2]

There are two slightly different versions. In the TV version shown on Formosa Television, the film ends with both protagonists singing the theme song together, even though the male protagonist was already dead. In the cinema version, the film ends with the female protagonist singing the song by herself in a much slower tempo. The TV version is about 9 minutes longer.

Cast

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ *"Record 47 Countries In Oscar Contention" (Press release). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 1999-11-22. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
  2. ^ "Festival de Cannes: March of Happiness". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
edit