Taiwanese Catholics launch first children's TV program on mime
Taipei (AsiaNews) - The first children's program based entirely on mime began production yesterday, the feast of the Assumption, with the blessing of Father Jerry (丁松筠 神父). It will be broadcast on public television in Taiwan (公共 电视台). It is being made by Kuangchi Program Service (光启 社, KPS), the oldest television production company in Taiwan which this year celebrates its 56th anniversary. The priest, who is also vice president of KPS and a veteran of children's programs, said that "if you really take care of the education of children, like Jesus in the Gospel, this will bear great fruits and the children, as adults, in turn, will take care of their brothers and sisters".
The program is based on the story of "Mr. Amour and his cats" (阿默 和 他 的 猫儿 们) whose narrative tells how every day life becomes special if open to love and acceptance. The technique used is made up of actors and puppets manipulated by hidden artists.
The main actor, star of the street mime, and who has graced the screens of Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, it is called Renqian (王仁 千), a young Catholic who believes in the importance of communication and education as a means to developing the positive characteristics of each person. "Communication is not just words - Renqian told AsiaNews - I, for example, I can mime any animal except the human. With our creative team we developed this program for children and we are happy to be able to bring it to TV screens thanks to KPS production. I grew up with the values of the Gospel and I have always sought a creative way to share them. "
The President Jessica Zhuang (庄 社长) says: "It is the first time that we do not use our TV studio for our production, and we are happy to do so thanks to the new high-definition public television, with this innovative program for children in the age groups of seven to ten years. "
American Jesuit, Father Bourret (卜立辉 神父), founded KPS first as radio station with children's stories and educational programs for parents when literacy was very low. In 1958 the first Taiwanese television production company was born in Taipei, whose programs were recorded in the new KPS television studio and aired by the newly formed national television, built in the same neighborhood.
Hundreds of actors, writers, directors and presenters have been trained at KPS and since then have given life to all the new television stations present today in Taiwan. The Taiwanese government and public television still maintain a very close relationship with Kuangchi Program, entrusting it with the production of quality educational programs. Kuangchi also has a section dedicated to publishing, which has also recently published the catechism for young people in Chinese (Youcat).
But in recent decades KPS has not limited itself to Taiwan. Due to the fact that the language of the staff and the entire production is Mandarin Chinese, KPS also works in mainland China where in collaboration with the National Television of China (中央 电视台, CCTV) for the production and airing of documentary films accessible to hundreds of millions of viewers. Next production is due to begin in Milan and Beijing on the film about the famous imperial painter Giuseppe Castiglione (郎世宁), born in Milan. The four-part series will air next year on CCTV.
.png)
