Ivan C. Shih's ambitious 3Danimation fantasy project The Adventures Of Dragon Fruit took the main prize at the second TaiwanFilm & TV Project Promotion (TFTPP) event in Taipei yesterday.

The presentations were amajor component of the 4th Taipei International TV, Film and Digital ContentsExhibition, held Nov 23-25.

The Adventures Of DragonFruit was among 17 projects competingfor the $30,000 top prize. The event is modeled on project markets such as Pusan's PPP and Rotterdam's Cinemart to assist films and television series atdifferent stages of development to secure finances from investors. Tsao Jui-yuan won a $10,000 runner-up prize for Australian-set Far End Of The Heaven.

The 17 projects - down fromlast year's 21 - were selected from 44 submissions. While television projects were entered, nonemade the shortlist. Several of the films have appeared at other projectmarkets: Butterfly and The Dark Side Of TheMoon were in Pusan's PPP; ALetter To Brigitte Lin in last month's Tokyo Project Gathering.

Suggesting the difficultiesorganisers had in securing projects, one finalist - Lin Yu-hsien's completed Exit No. 6 - was also shortlisted inlast year's selection. The filmmakersbehind another, Guge Tattoo, stressedthat the director they had named, John Woo, was not officially attached totheir $50m project that also potentially stars John Travolta as a forensicscientist.

While last year's inauguralevent was attended by Asian film industry heavyweights, the audience at thisyear's two-day event was primarily composed of the directors and producers ofthe competing projects and the seven-member jury. Jury included producer PeggyChiao, director Yee Chih-yen and Cannes programmer Jeremy Segay.

Exhibitors at this year'sTaipei International TV, Film and Digital Contents Exhibition were composed of14 local television producers, 5 equipment suppliers, 4 animation companies and37 foreign organisations. 20 local film companies were represented on a standhosted by the Chinese Taipei Film Archive but did not exhibit.

By the third day, mostforeign exhibitors had already closed down their stands. Event was quiet, on a similar scale to theBangkok Film Market (BFM) held in January. Like BFM, deals were confinedprimarily to South East Asian territories.According to official figures, 1144 visitors attended in addition to 258buyers.

TFTPP Projects

01.TheBattleof Hong KongTrilogy: Zero Metal (dir. DanielChan) [Chance Pictures]
02. Wushu (dir. Antony Szeto) [Hippopotamus Films]
03. Road in the Forest (dir. Sheng Zhimin) [Nicetop Independent]
04. Exit No. 6(dir. Lin Yu-hsien) [YTLHB Intl & Jump Boy Films]
05. A Letter to Brigitte Lin (dir. Rendy Hou) [Three Dots Entertainment]
06. Guge Tattoo(dir. John Woo) [Dot-Shine Digimedia Communication]
07. Far End of the Heaven (dir. Tsao Jui-yuan) [Tsao Film Production]
08. A Cat Through Inferno (dir. Mable Cheung) [Emperor & Power Generation Entertainment]
09. Butterfly(dir. Chang Tso-chi) [Chang Tso-chi Film Studio]
10. The Dark Side of the Moon [a.k.a. Tunneling] (dir. Su Chao-pin) [Unit 9 Pictures]
11. Miao Miao(dir. Chu Chia-lin) [Jettone Films]
12. Right Above the Surface (dir. Chiao Hsiung-chien) [CineIsland Development]
13. Trubble Bub(dir. Steve Ressel) [F.Rhythm 3D Animation Company]
14. Shaolin Temple (dir. Tsai Chih-chung) [Chinese CartoonProduction Co]
15. So Long My Love(dir. Micho Chang & Chen Chih-jen)
16. The Adventures of Dragon Fruit (dir. Ivan C. Shih) [CGCG Inc]
17. Grand Adventures of the Oracle Bone: The Story of Father Lai (dir. Huang Ming-cheng)