‘Somewhere In The South’ Takes Top Award At TCCF Pitching; ‘Reunion Dinner’ Scoops Three Prizes

Tan Ce Ding’s Somewhere In The South won the top award in the Pitching section of this year’s Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF), the TAICCA x CNC Feature Film Grand Award, which comes with a cash prize of $35,000.

Produced by Edward Lim’s Malaysia-based Evil Genius Studio and Anthony Chen’s Singapore-based Giraffe Pictures, the project follows a young man in a sleepy southern Malaysian town who starts to lose his identity after he’s roped into wearing a tiger costume during a political campaign.

The prize was one of four “Grand Awards” handed out by TCCF organizer, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), with the other three worth $30,000 apiece. In total, along with awards from sponsors, this year’s edition of the event has a prize pool of more than $305,000 (NTD10M).

Among the other Grand Prize winners, the TAICCA Series award was presented to French project Saga. Produced by Biz Productions and Elephant Story, the series revolves around four forgotten screenwriters who create an unlikely hit when they are thrown back together due to a regulatory quota for “human-authored content”.

The TAICCA x Weta FX Animation award went to France-Spain co-production Wilderness Of The Greenriver, a feature project written and to be directed by Ellis Kayin Chan; while the TAICCA Documentary award went to China-Taiwan collaboration A Day’s Worth, in which a filmmaker interacts with Chinese day laborers.

Among other awards presented by sponsors, horror film Reunion Dinner scooped the most amount of prizes with three awards: the MPA Asia Pacific Grand Award, the Videoland Ingenuity Award and the NAFF Award from Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. Directed by Taiwan’s Hung Tzu-peng, the project follows a hearing impaired high school girl who returns home for Lunar New Year and is forced to save her family from a deadly curse.

Other multiple award winners included two other Taiwanese feature film projects – Mirror Entertainment’s horror comedy Romance In Hell and Critical Hits Production’s Turns Out Its Not BL But BFF – which both won two prizes (see full list of award winners below).

Also winning two awards were series The 16th Night Kitchen (China, Japan) and Sunlight Delivery (Taiwan), as well as documentaries Saving Tuvalu (Australia, Germany) and Parachute Kids (Taiwan, US), with latter project following Taiwanese who were shipped off to the U.S. as children.

In TCCF’s Story section, which presented books, comics and other pieces of IP suitable for screen adaptation, Mirror Fiction’s The Three Witches Of Shetou won the TAICCA Award – Best Story and the friDay Video Original Story Award. Kevin Chen’s novel follows three estranged sisters who reunite during a festival in their hometown which dredges up family curses and buried secrets.

TCCF took place in the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei from November 6-9. The event kicked off with the signing of a partnership between TAICCA and New Zealand-based visual effects house Weta FX, aimed at strengthening Taiwan’s AI capabilities and content industries.

Also during TCCF, TAICCA hosted a showcase presenting details of recent investments from four content funds launched in partnership with local telcos and media entities, and on the last day announced the launch of a digital games fund with Lunta Ventures. See here for Deadline’s complete coverage.

TCCF PITCHING 2026 FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

GRAND AWARDS:

TAICCA × CNC Feature Film Grand Award: Somewhere In The South (Giraffe Pictures, Evil Genius Studio)

TAICCA Series Grand Award: Saga (BiZ Productions, Elephant Story)

TAICCA × Wētā FX Animation Grand Award: Wilderness Of The Greenriver (Eddy Cinéma)

TAICCA Documentary Grand Award: A Day’s Worth (Singing Cicadas)

PROJECT – ALL SESSIONS:

Hami Video Creativity Award: Romance In Hell (Mirror Entertainment)

HPCF Confluence Award: Saving Tuvalu (Media Stockade, Filmtank)

Mediacorp Award: The 16th Night Kitchen (Seika Works)

NMEA Award: Ghost Month (Rivenoak Media, Reno Studios, Lusasa Animation)

Phah Chiayi – Chiayi Story Development Award: My Cringe Love Notebook (Yoosonn Entertainment, CJ ENM)

Taiwan Mobile Content Power Award: Saving Tuvalu (Media Stockade, Filmtank)

THSR Beautiful Journey Award: Time In A Bottle (Happy Makers Co)

2026 TCCF MyPick Project Award: Turns Out It’s Not BL But BFF (Critical Hits Production Co)

PROJECT – FEATURE FILM:

KFA Original Award: Turns Out It’s Not BL But BFF (Critical Hits Production Co)

udnFunLife IP Potential Award: Romance In Hell (Mirror Entertainment)

Videoland Ingenuity Award: Reunion Dinner (Make A Deal International Production)

MPA Asia Pacific Grand Award: Reunion Dinner (Make A Deal International Production)

NAFF Award: Reunion Dinner (Make A Deal International Production)

Udine Focus Asia Award: Honey Milk (ENLA Media, Stories We Tell)

PROJECT – SERIES:

Blintn Next Hit Award: Sunlight Delivery (Model Universe Co)

EBC Original IP Potential Award: Sunlight Delivery (Model Universe Co)

First Bank Award: Leaf And Tree (Mirror Entertainment)

TVBS Storytelling Impact Grand Award: The 16th Night Kitchen (Seika Works)

PROJECT – ANIMATION:

Taiwan Original Animation Highlight Award: Operation Maomao (Shaogao Co, Brilliant Animation Studios)

PROJECT – DOCUMENTARY:

Doc Edge Award: Parachute Kids (Walking Iris Media, Your Sister Films)

Docs by the Sea Award: Firstborn Daughter, Firstborn Son (Moon Heart Films, Hydroblast)

Mega Bank C&E Foundation Best ESG Award: Parachute Kids (Walking Iris Media, Your Sister Films)

STORY – FICTION, NON-FICTION & COMICS:

TAICCA Award – Best Story: The Three Witches Of Shetou (Mirror Fiction Inc)

friDay Video Original Story Award: The Three Witches Of Shetou (Mirror Fiction Inc)

Taipei International Film Award: The Defense Attorney: Miss Umeko (udn.com Co)

Formosa TV Award: Alpha Scorpii In Summer: Tadao Kano’s Experience Growing Up In Taiwan (Liu Ka-shiang, Taiwan Interminds Publishing)

Gala Pictures Best IP Award: Ghost Map (Millionstar Entertainment, Delight Press)

SET TV Next Star Award: Female General, Formation (Cai Yi Color Paper Products)

2026 TCCF MyPick Story Award: Gangster Mei’s Diner (Ami, Loosiong Co)