To realize his family's dream of bringing Taiwanese glove puppetry to global viewers, the director of the Puppetry Art Center of Taipei (PACT) Tsai Yi-wei (蔡易衛), who is currently in New York participating in the Fulbright exchange program, collaborated with filmmaker Pan Hsuan-yu (潘宣羽) to work on a documentary titled "I, Puppet (我，戲偶)."
Both Tsai and Pan were invited by the Taipei Cultural Center in New York to a press conference to share their thoughts on promoting the culture of Taiwanese glove puppetry to the New York audiences. Tsai stated that when he was a child, he began touring with his parents who operate a puppet troupe in Taiwan. These puppets remained an influential part of his life as they were his constant companion throughout childhood. However, his connection with puppetry only began when he participated in an internship program at the Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum 13 years ago.
During his two-month stay in New York, Tsai brought the puppets to the Macy's department store, the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other world-famous landmarks to perform. Not only did Tsai’s performance win the hearts of New Yorkers, but it also caught Pan's attention. Pan is a Taiwanese filmmaker who has lived in America for 20 years and was a producer at BRIC TV. She said that she grew up watching glove puppetry performances and "making a film on Potehi (glove puppetry) is like dream come true." She also expressed her joy to be able to make a film about her hometown in a foreign country as well as promote the Taiwanese traditional performing art to the world.
The trailer of the documentary project "I, Puppet" has been released, and through this, Tsai and Pan hope to garner more attraction and raise funds to complete the production of the full film. Click here for more information about the project.