Taipei Cultural Center collaborated with Film Forum, New York's leading movie house for independent premieres and repertory programming, to present a two-week festival of classic films by Edward Yang (楊德昌), Hou Hsiao-Hsien (侯孝賢), Chang Yi (張毅), and Chen Kun-Ho (陳坤厚) from Nov. 11 to 24.
One of the wonders of the late 20th-century global cinematic landscape was the wave of remarkably talented directors who emerged in Taiwan during the 1980s. Yet, despite the international acclaim given to the leading directors of the so-called "New Taiwan Cinema," their larger body of work has rarely been screened outside their own country.
The "New Waves: Rediscovering Taiwanese Cinema of the 1980s" program aims to highlight the little-known richness and diversity of this period of cinema. The repertory series was curated by Haden Guest, film historian and director of the Harvard Film Archive, along with Film Forum repertory artistic director Bruce Goldstein.
The series includes several films that were popular hits in Taiwan but have not been widely viewed elsewhere, such as "In Our Time" (光陰的故事) and "The Sandwich Man" (兒子的大玩偶). The series will also feature films by founding figures of New Taiwan Cinema such as "Taipei Story" (青梅竹馬) and "A Brighter Summer Day" (牯嶺街少年殺人事件) by Edward Yang, "Dust in The Wind" (戀戀風塵) by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, and "Growing Up" (小畢的故事) and "My Favorite Season" (最想念的季節) by Chen Kun-Ho. The series also includes "Rebels of the Neon God" (青少年哪吒) by Tsai Ming-Liang, which showcases many of the themes and approaches of 1980s Taiwanese cinema, while also taking them in a strikingly different direction.
According to series programmer Haden Guest, "In the 1980s, Taiwan was the epicenter of a paradigm shift in narrative filmmaking that dramatically harnessed and expanded cinema's power to creatively engage time and emotion. This series offers a rich cross section of films from this crucial moment, bringing together pioneering films by luminaries like Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang with lesser-known, yet vital works that challenged approaches to genre and brought a new sharp-edged political address to Taiwanese cinema. The profound impact and lasting influence of these movies resonates to this day."
Film Forum’s repertory selections include foreign and American classics, festivals, and directors’ retrospectives. For more information, please visit: https://filmforum.org/series/new-waves-rediscovering-taiwanese-cinema-of-the-1980s