Take a look at the musical films selected for the Music in Taiwan and Mandarin Films: A Companionship Film Festival and you will be surprised how much Taiwanese people love singing.
Starting today, the festival focuses on five film song writers: Zhi Lan-pin (
The Kingdom and the Beauty, The Dream of the Red Chamber, and The Love Eterne are three classical Hung-Mei opera films. This kind of folk musical comes from the central Chinese provinces. After they were made into movies, some of them became huge hits during the 1960's.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPOT 320 TAIPEI FILM HOUSE AND MAJESTIC CINEMA
The Chinese version of the Romeo and Juliet love story is told through sentimental folk songs and dance in The Love Eterne, which after its huge initial success has become a cult film in the past 40 years. The superstar Lin Ching-hsia (
Traditional music and theater were major sources for film making during the golden age of the Taiwanese film industry. Apart from Hung-Mei opera, Peking opera (
Fleeing by Night, Peony Pavilion and Breaking the Willow are films inspired by Kunqu -- the oldest Chinese traditional opera.
Yon Fan (
Unfortunately due to bad preservation, many prints of Chinese musical films have been lost, and among those that remain few are shown with English subtitles. So if you don't want to sit through and listen to indecipherable traditional Chinese songs without English subtitles, do verify the screening information in the festival program before you attend.
Music in Taiwan and Mandarin Films at Spot -- Taipei Film House and Majestic Cinema.
Until Aug. 26, tel: (02) 25117786
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