Cinema

As introduced by the Taiwan Yearbook 2006:

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Taiwan's film industry was one of the strongest in Asia, but was dominated by syrupy romances, grade-B kung fu movies, and moralistic or propaganda-oriented dramas. In time, the public grew weary of the limited variety of domestically produced films. At the same time, they became increasingly exposed to high-quality foreign movies through film festivals held by the Chinese Taipei Film Archive and through the increasing availability of movies on videotape.

New Wave Cinema

The real breakthrough for Taiwan cinema came in 1982 with In Our Time, a four-part film produced by the Central Motion Picture Corporation that featured four talented young directors: Edward Yang, Tao De-chen, Ke Yi-jheng, and Jhang Yi. The film won over audiences by replacing melodrama and escapism with a realistic look at life in Taiwan.

This new approach paved the way for New Cinema (or New Wave Cinema), which has been compared stylistically to Italian neo-realism. Initially inspired by Taiwan's nativist literature of the 1960s and 1970s, New Wave directors, such as Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang, and Wang Tong, created cinema with a unique Taiwanese flavor by focusing on realistic and sympathetic portrayals of both rural and urban life.

Many New Cinema films were based on famous nativist novels, which continued the tradition of adapting literary works for the screen. From 1965 to 1983, for example, a total of 50 films were adapted from the romance novels of Cyong Yao. New Wave directors were interested not only in the plots of these novels but also in their realistic, down-to-earth style and spirit. They wanted to give a genuine local flavor to their films. Like nativist writers, they also critically reviewed some of the central issues facing Taiwan society, such as the struggle against poverty, conflicts with political authority, and the growing pains of urbanization and industrialization.

One of the first films in this mode was The Sandwich Man (1983), a three-part movie by directors Hou Hsiao-hsien, Zeng Jhuang-siang, and Wan Ren. Adapted from several short stories by the famous writer Huang Chun-ming, this film dealt with the struggles of working class people in the 1960s.

New Cinema directors took a highly introspective approach in examining the effects of the political, social, and economic changes that Taiwan experienced over the postwar decades. Their works thus offer a fascinating chronicle of the island's social transformation in modern times. For example, Wang Tong's The Strawman (1987) and Hill of No Return (1992) portray the tragic, work-burdened lives of rural Taiwanese during the Japanese occupation. Wang's latest work, The Red Persimmon (1996), tells the story of a mainland family that escaped to Taiwan in 1949. Hou Hsiao-hsien's A City of Sadness takes place just after the Japanese occupation and focuses on the conflicts between local Taiwanese and the newly arrived Nationalist government, which came to a climax in the February 28 Incident of 1947. Another of Hou's films, A Time to Live and a Time to Die (1985), examines life in rural Taiwan in the 1950s and 1960s. His more recent Good Men, Good Women (1995) covers political developments from the end of World War II to the present day. In contrast, the works of Edward Yang, such as Taipei Story (1985), The Terrorizers (1986), and Confucian Confusion (1994), reflect the clash of traditional values and modern materialism among young urbanites of the 1980s and 1990s.

Second New Wave

While New Wave films have continued to win critical acclaim, the initial enthusiasm of local audiences began to wear off in the late 1980s. The genre soon gave rise to many low-quality imitations, and viewers, growing tired of New Wave seriousness, were drawn to the escapist, entertainment-oriented films from Hong Kong, which soon began to dominate the market. Local directors found it increasingly difficult to secure financing for their films, which were not big box-office draws.

Nevertheless, during the lean years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of talented new filmmakers began to create a "Second New Wave" for Taiwan cinema. Compared with the older generation, these new directors offered a much greater variety, in both content and style, although they were still strongly committed to portraying a uniquely Taiwan perspective. They also tended to reject the nostalgic, historical approach of older filmmakers, being drawn instead to explore the pain and absurdities of contemporary life.

One of the major figures of the Second New Wave is Tsai Ming-liang, whose films Rebels of the Neon God (1992) and the 1994 Venice Film Festival award winner Vive l'Amour take an existentialist look at the plight of urban teenagers and young adults who are on the margins of today's affluent society. The latter also won praise for its unique style of filmmaking, which has no music or soundtrack, only the background noises of the city, and a minimal amount of dialogue, relying instead on the power of simple but ambiguous images.

Second New Wave director Stan Lai, a key figure in Taiwan's stage theater, has also brought an experimental and light-hearted touch to his films. The Peach Blossom Land (1992), which won prizes at the Tokyo and Berlin film festivals, is an adaptation of one of Lai's stage productions. It is a tragicomedy involving two groups of actors who take turns rehearsing two very different plays on the same stage. His 1994 film, The Red Lotus Society, juxtaposes a fantastic story about a young man who is determined to fly like the martial arts masters of ancient times set against the realistic backdrop of modern-day Taipei.

The films of Ang Lee, another Second New Wave director, take a more realistic approach to contemporary life. Pushing Hand(1991), The Wedding Banquet (1993), and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) look at the generational and cultural conflicts confronting modern families. In 2006, Taiwan-born Lee became the first Asian to win the Academy Award for best director for his English-language film Brokeback Mountain.

Wu Nien-chen, who already had a solid reputation as one of the island's top screenwriters, directed A Borrowed Life (1994), which was awarded best film at the Turin International Film Festival, and Buddha Bless America (1996), which was shown at the Venice Film Festival. Chen Yu-hsun was awarded the Blue Leopard Prize at Switzerland's Locarno Film Festival for Tropical Fish (1995). Hsu Hsiao-ming, Steve Wang, and Lin Ceng-sheng are also among Taiwan's new directors whose works have been shown at prestigious film festivals around the world.

Between 2000 and 2005, Taiwan's movie industry was transformed as filmmakers shifted from an earlier preference for tragedies to a new unique style that touches viewers' hearts. Films in this genre include Comes the Black Dog, Taipei 21, Double Vision, Blue Gate Crossing, The Best of Times, Love Me If You Can, Formula 17, May Love, and 20-30-40. The first two of these films won best supporting actress award and best picture award respectively at the 49th Asian Pacific Film Festival in 2004. Directed by Tsai Ming-liang, The Wayward Cloud, a musical drama, won the Fipresci Award (also known as the International Critics Prize) at the 55th Berlin Film Festival in 2005. Meanwhile, digital cinematography has gradually increased, with directors such as Chu Yen-ping, Alice Yu-ya Wang, and Li You-ning experimenting with 24P digital format film productions. Leading examples include Shaolin -- Let's Go, Love Me If You Can, and My Grandpa's Home.

Through the Challenge 2008 National Development Plan, the government is working to improve motion picture production and encourage animation with a unique Taiwanese style. New guidance strategies have been drawn up to establish a filmmaking environment conducive to creative production and investment, and targeting innovation, capital, market, talent and technology, as well as overall integration. Several measures have been promoted, covering the revision of the Motion Picture Act; selection of outstanding film scripts; establishment of a guidance fund for flagship film productions; guidance for the establishment of private digital theaters; funding for digitization equipment purchases; guidance funding and awards for short films and documentaries; training and scholarships for talented film personnel; funding for feature film production, digital-to-optic conversion, promotion, and screening; box office reward measures; and establishment of an English online archive of Taiwan's movies.