As part of the Ministry of Culture's efforts to preserve the nation's precious film heritage, Minister Lung Ying-tai visited the Chinese Taipei Film Archive in New Taipei's Shulin District on Jan. 21. Explaining that the aged motion pictures are not only artistic gems but also a part of Taiwan's collective memories, the culture minister called on the nation's citizens and corporations to lend a helping hand.
In the Shulin vault facility currently maintained by the Center for Taiwan Film Digital Movie Archives, there are roughly 3,000 reels of film -- including newsreels, documentaries and feature films -- that are in dire need of repairs. The ministry was approved a NT$23-million budget for this year's film maintenance, but in actuality, NT$1 billion is needed to rescue the total 3,000 reels. According to the Minister, NT$23 million would only be able to restore 10 reels of film.
Moreover, the motion picture vaults have been kept at a constant temperature of 18 degrees Celsius, thirteen degrees higher than the optimal film storage temperature of 5 degrees Celsius. The decision stems from a lack of sufficient funds, for each Celsius less translates into an additional NT$10,000 per month in electricity fees per vault.
"While we're busy trying to fix old reels and tempering our electricity bills, all the other pristine film rolls have slowly begun to deteriorate in quality,” Lung pointed out, comparing the predicament at hand to be akin to Sisyphus, a figure in Greek mythology doomed to heave the same rock uphill for eternity. "At this pace, we'll never beat the destructive powers of time.”