Cinematic Identity

Taiwan’s cinematic identity is largely wrapped up in its history with Japan and China. It spent a large part of its history trying to carve its identity amidst colonization, war, and international competition.

Taiwan started to really form its own identity during the 1980’s with its “Second Wave” period, once Chinese and Japanese influence had diminished enough to allow it. Taiwan is currently in its “New Second Wave” period of cinema, which started in the early 1990’s. By this time, Taiwan’s identity was becoming more visible on the international stage, and its artistic conventions in cinema were becoming more well-established. However, the Second New Wave sought to rejuvenate the Taiwanese film industry with younger directors and fresher stories about contemporary issues in Taiwanese culture. Thus, many of the film stories from this period deal with personal stories of war and strife, intergenerational conflicts in families, nostalgia, and coming-of-age themes.

Taiwanese cinema is known for its beautiful cinematography and use of vivid colours. Taiwanese films favour deep focus as opposed to Hollywood’s love of shallow depth-of-field, because its filmmakers love to capture intricate details in their natural environments and production design. Many of its visual aesthetics are similar to that of Chinese and Hong Kong cinema, including slow-motion in action scenes. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), although a co-production with China, was recognized internationally for its visuals and won Academy Awards incinematography and art direction.

Still from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)