On Happiness Road

On Happiness Road is a 2017 Taiwanese animated film written and directed by Sung Hsin-yin, her directoral debut. The film is based on her own animated short of the same name which won start-up funding at the Golden Horse Awards in 2013.[3] It was screened at the Busan International Film Festival on October 15, 2017 and saw a theatrical release in Taiwan on January 5, 2018. The film has won numerous awards, including Best Feature Film during the 2018 Tokyo Anime Award Festival, Best Animation Feature at the 2018 Golden Horse Awards, as well as Grand Prize, Best Animation, and Audience Choice Award at the 2018 Taipei Film Festival, and was also submitted for nomination to the 2018 Academy Awards in the Animated Feature Film category.[4] The theme song was sung by pop star Jolin Tsai.

On Happiness Road
Chinese幸福路上
MandarinXìn fú lù shàng
Directed bySung Hsin-yin
Produced bySylvia Feng
Screenplay bySung Hsin-yin
StarringGwei Lun-mei
Chen Bor-jeng
Jane Liao
Wei Te-sheng
Music byWen Tzu-chieh
Production
company
Happiness Road Productions
Distributed byAblaze Image[1]
Release date
  • October 15, 2017 (2017-10-15) (BIFF)
  • January 5, 2018 (2018-01-05) (Taiwan)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryTaiwan
LanguageTaiwanese Hokkien
Mandarin
English
BudgetNT$50 million
Box officeNT$13 million (Taiwan)[2]

Plot

Chi was born in Taiwan on April 5, 1975, the day the Chiang Kai-shek died, and so she grew up during a time when Taiwan slowly transformed from a single-party dictatorship to a democracy.[5] After immigrating to the United States, she receives news of her grandmother's death. When she returns to Taiwan for the funeral, memories from her childhood and adolescence return to her. As she reconnects family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances from her childhood, she begins to reflect on the nature of her unhappiness. As she reminisces about her childhood and the political backdrop of her upbringing, she sees how her native land has changed in her absence and reflects on how she had changed during that time as well.

Cast
  • Gwei Lun-mei as adult Chi
  • Bella Wu as young Chi
  • Chen Bor-jeng as Chi's father
  • Jane Liao as Chi's mother
  • Giwas Gigo as Chi's grandmother
  • Wei Te-sheng as Wen
  • Chia-hsiu Li as adult Betty
  • Penny Huang as young Betty
  • Alan Hsu as young Hsu Sheng-en

Production

Sung was inspired to tell her personal story of growing up in Taiwan in film school at Columbia College Chicago after the film Persepolis (film) during a class.[6] After graduation, she created a 13-minute short animation which won the grand prize at the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion in 2013.[7] The award of 1 million NTD allowed her to start expanding the short into a full-length feature. Securing further funding for the film was difficult, since many Chinese investors would not invest in a film which covered Taiwan's political history.[7][8] In support of the project, director Wei Te-sheng and actress Gwei Lun-mei worked as voice actors in the film for free.[9]

The film is entirely hand-drawn,[10] with some of the animation done in Indonesia.[11]

Awards and nominations
Award Category Recipients Result Ref.
55th Golden Horse Awards Best Animation Feature On Happiness Road Won [12]
Best Adapted Screenplay Sung Hsin-yin Nominated
2018 Tokyo Anime Awards Festival Best Feature Film On Happiness Road Won [13]
2018 Taipei Film Festival Grand Prize On Happiness Road Won [14]
Best Animation On Happiness Road Won
Audience Choice Award On Happiness Road Won
2018 Asia Pacific Screen Awards Best Animated Feature Film On Happiness Road Nominated [15]

References
  1. Frater, Patrick (March 18, 2018). "FilMart: Ablaze Animation 'Happiness Road' Leads to European Buyers". Variety. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  2. "台灣電影／全台票房:2018年-台灣偶像劇場".
  3. "On Happiness Road (2013) - IMDb". IMDb.
  4. "25 ANIMATED FEATURES SUBMITTED FOR 2018 OSCAR RACE". Oscars.org.
  5. Tsui, Clarence (March 20, 2018). "'On Happiness Road' ('Xing Fu Lu Shang'): Film Review". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  6. Del Rosario, Alexandra (December 13, 2018). "'On Happiness Road' Director Defines Her Own Happiness as 'Doing What I Want'". The Wrap. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  7. Cheung, Rachel (May 29, 2018). "On Happiness Road: Taiwanese animation tells 'cruel and dark' story of country's contemporary history despite enchanting style". South China Morning Post. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  8. Kao, Anthony (October 17, 2018). ""On Happiness Road" Beautifully Embodies Taiwan's Existential Malaise". Cinema Escapist. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  9. Lin, Tsuei-yi; Chin, Jonathan (March 15, 2018). "'On Happiness Road' wins AnimeJapan grand prize". Taipei Times. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  10. Hsu, Irene (January 21, 2019). "On Happiness Road Is a Playful Yet Profound Coming-of-Age Story". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  11. Yosephine, Liza (September 7, 2018). "'On Happiness Road': A picturesque tale of disillusionment". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  12. "台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival". www.goldenhorse.org.tw.
  13. Milligan, Mercedes (March 20, 2018). "Tokyo Anime Awards Fest Winners; Grand Prize Feature Gets Euro Pick-Ups". Animation Magazine. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  14. Shackleton, Liz (July 18, 2018). "'On Happiness Road', 'Dear Ex' triumph at Taipei Film Awards". Screen Daily. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  15. "On Happiness Road (Hsing Fu Lu Shang)". Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
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