The Taiwan Film Institute yesterday announced it has restored some classic Taiwanese films and they are ready to be shown in theaters across the nation.
The institute is a foundation established by the Ministry of Culture charged with restoring and promoting the nation’s film heritage.
Institute chief executive Lin Wen-chi (林文淇) said that following the 1955 end of a ban on producing movies in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), hundreds of movies in the language were produced every year until the end of the 1960s, when the move to color films undermined the competitiveness of independent Hoklo film producers.
The 1970s saw the emergence of romantic movies and a genre of “new wave” wuxia (martial arts, 武俠) films, which were commercially successful in eastern Asia, he said.
Time has not been kind to the older movies, which are only now beginning to be digitized and restored, Deputy Minister of Culture Joseph Chen (陳永豐) said.
He said that many films have already been lost or irreparably damaged due to poor preservation methods, adding that during Taiwan’s economic rise, discarded movie-film was often used as waterproof lining in the straw hats of factory workers.
He estimated that only 400 Hoklo films have been preserved.
Ten older films in either Holko or Mandarin have been fully digitized and restored by the institute.
The movie exhibition — set to tour the nation from next month through August — features six classic films from the 1960s and 1970s.
Films featured include Dragon Gate Inn (龍門客棧), the wuxia film that marked the beginning of the “new wave” pictures. The restored version was featured at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
The romantic drama The Young Ones (彩雲飛) — based on a novel by famous pulp-romance author Chiung Yao (瓊瑤) — similarly presaged a wave of successful romance films.
The exhibit includes Love in Chilly Spring (春寒), starring singer Feng Fei-fei (鳳飛飛), as well the three older Hoklo films: Back to Anping Harbor (回來安平港), Vengeance of the Phoenix Sisters (三鳳震武林) and The Fantasy of Deer Warrior (大俠梅花鹿).
All films feature English subtitles.
Showtimes, locations and ticket purchasing information can be found on the Web site of the Taiwan Film Institute: www.tfi.org.tw.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
PAWSITIVE IMPACT: A shop owner said that while he adopted cats to take care of rodents, they have also attracted younger visitors who also buy his dried goods In Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕), cats lounging in shops along Dihua Street do more than nap amid the scent of dried seafood. Many have become beloved fixtures who double as photography models, attracting visitors and helping boost sales in one of the capital’s most historic quarters. A recent photo contest featuring more than a dozen shop cats drew more than 2,200 submissions, turning everyday cat-spotting into a friendly competition that attracted amateur and professional photographers. “It’s rare to see cats standing, so when it suddenly did, it felt like a lucky cat,” said Sabrina Hsu (徐淳蔚), who won the NT$10,000 top prize in
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS