Decades-old audiovisual assets are being digitalized as a resource for the next generation.
One of TFAI's main missions is to preserve and digitalize old movies that are important elements of Taiwan's cineatic heritage. (Courtesy of Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute)
Three years ago cartoonist Chien Chia-chen (簡嘉誠) was commissioned by New Taipei City-based Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI) to create books about Holo, also known as Taiwanese, language films. Holo is spoken by the country’s largest ethnic group after arriving with successive waves of immigrants from the southern provinces of China, particularly Fujian. Chien’s 2019 publication “Back Street Dusk” highlighted the importance of restoring old negatives, while his 2020 work “This Man, He Paints Movies” illustrated the key role that hand-painted posters played in the film industry right up to the 1980s. His third tome scheduled for publication in 2023 will focus on women in cinema.
Holo-language cinema thrived after the post-World War II withdrawal of the Japanese and had its heyday from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s before suffering a sharp decline due to government promotion of Mandarin Chinese, lack of industry investment and weak demand in overseas markets. Of the roughly 1,000 Holo films produced during the genre’s golden age, only around 200 remain. TFAI seeks to resurrect a coherent cinematic identity through the collection, restoration and screening of these forgotten reels.
Born in 1978, Chien did not know much about Holo films until he started conducting research for his assignment. In addition to studying filmmaking processes from the relevant decades, he reviewed the institute’s collection and watched the time-consuming and labor-intensive restoration projects carried out by its technicians. Visits to the archives furnished him with knowledge of how the aging negatives were collected, classified and stored.
“Old movies may not be to the taste of contemporary audiences, but they’re important components of Taiwan’s cinematic heritage,” Chien said. “Hopefully, current generations can appreciate their unique aesthetic, historic and linguistic values through both digitally restored versions and reading about their background.” The cartoonist uses a fun and engaging manner to introduce new audiences to the golden age of Holo-language cinema and the importance of film preservation and restoration.
Overseen by the Ministry of Culture (MOC), TFAI is the only government institution dedicated to preserving and promoting the country’s audiovisual assets. It started in 1978 as the Film Library of the Motion Picture Development Foundation. Currently, the institute maintains about 20,000 films and around 400,000 items such as costumes, props, pieces of equipment, manuscripts, stills and tapes. With the promulgation of the Act for the Establishment of TFAI in December 2019, the institute’s responsibilities were extended from film conservation to include radio and television programs, plus a broad spectrum of research and outreach programs.
TFAI restores old negatives at risk of decay due to humidity and temperature, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive work. (Courtesy of TFAI)
Audiovisual Access
TFAI’s new building inaugurated in January 2022 in New Taipei City’s Xinzhuang District is equipped with an exhibition gallery, library, multipurpose room and theaters. Its activities include exhibitions, screenings, workshops and publications, as well as hosting the biennial Taiwan International Documentary Festival. According to TFAI Director Wang Chun-chi (王君琦), the institute focuses on exploring the history of local films and preserving and restoring old movies—especially those in Holo— while also promoting Taiwan cinema in the international arena.
Wang said that the new premises marked a milestone in government-funded work to preserve and document audiovisual media in all formats for its cultural and historical value. TFAI fosters awareness of the country’s cinematic heritage and the need to take urgent action to protect fragile material before it is lost forever. Many historic audio, film and video recordings are at risk of decay due to inadequate temperature- and humidity-controlled storage and the obsolescence of playback equipment for certain media formats. Wang said digitization is the most effective method of preserving archives and making sure they remain accessible for research well into the future.
TFAI’s digital conversion of its archives began in 2008, and by 2021 it had digitalized 324 films and repaired 57 movies. Through collaboration with foreign professionals on film restoration projects, the director said her team learned international practices and standards and now has capacity to repair damaged films for long-term preservation and sustainable management. Conserving moving images and sound recordings and ensuring they remain accessible to the public is a vital goal for her institute. “Audiovisual materials are unique records, offering irreplaceable insight to future generations. They’re an integral part of national history and identity as well as creations in their own right,” Wang said. “They should be preserved and shared as a common resource.”
To offer equal access to and enjoyment of this tangible cultural heritage, the Open Museum website established by TFAI in partnership with Taipei City-based Academia Sinica allows virtual visits to its collections. The institute also puts on outdoor film screenings in remote locations, including offshore islands. TFAI gained some incidental publicity through the architectural competition for its new building project, which has helped raise its profile and contribute further to Wang’s optimism for the future.
Material Evidence
Ray Jiing (井迎瑞) has long been a key figure in the preservation of Taiwan’s cinematic heritage. He was the director of the National Film Archive—the forerunner of TFAI—from 1989 to 1996. After that, he established the Graduate Institute of Studies in Documentary and Film Archiving at Tainan National University of the Arts (TNNUA) in southern Taiwan, the country’s first graduate course in documentary filmmaking.
After his retirement from TNNUA in 2016, Jiing founded the Taiwan Film Heritage Preservation Association and the Film Collectors Museum, both of which are based in Taipei. He welcomes the new TFAI premises, while lamenting that environmentally controlled storage for film materials in the same facility is yet to come since negatives and other items are currently kept in rented spaces in an industrial zone in New Taipei City’s Shulin District. “TFAI will be more effective in preservation and promotion of audiovisual documents as hardware and software are upgraded,” he said.
When he served as the head of the National Film Archive, Jiing’s main task was to preserve feature films by famous directors in the mainstream movie industry. After establishing the TNNUA graduate institute, he changed tack and sought to collect early documentaries and newscasts. In recent years, Jiing has discovered a new seam of unique material to mine, as he started to collect and conserve old home and other amateur film and video recordings. “Documentaries, feature films, home videos and newscasts are all constituent elements of national memory, so it’s vital to keep them whole and intact,” he said.
TFAI’s cinema, equipped with high-definition laser projection and surround sound systems, frequently hosts film festival screenings. (Curtesy of TFAI)
Jiing is enthusiastic about sharing his three decades of accumulated experience from comprehensive conservation programs with TFAI and other academic and research institutions. The former director said future possibilities for cooperation with TFAI include sharing his association and museum collections as a resource that can be displayed or stored at the institute and developing joint TNNUA/TFAI training programs in film conservation techniques.
Experienced individuals like Jiing are leading private sector involvement in audiovisual preservation while the government also invests more resources in cultural assets. Tseng Chin-man (曾金滿) director-general of the MOC's Department of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, emphasized that safeguarding audiovisual heritage has now become a key plank of government policy, as evidenced by May 2020 legislation to upgrade TFAI from an incorporated foundation to an administrative public body and the inauguration of the new building.
In an echo of the old outdoor “mosquito cinemas,” TFAI puts on open air film screenings like this one in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District. (Courtesy of TFAI)
“Mass culture like films, television and radio are major forms of popular entertainment and as such reflect prevailing attitudes, beliefs and concerns,” Tseng said. “They serve as records of the eras in which they’re produced.” As most countries went through similar media development and host image archives, there is an international demographic with an interest in historic audiovisual materials that provide an entry point for a deeper understanding about Taiwan, she added. The director-general said the new building facilitates TFAI’s development as a major hub for research and use of audiovisual records in education. There is a second phase of construction work slated for completion in seven years’ time to house a dedicated museum and world-class archive center near the existing structure.
TFAI’s work with academic, educational and research institutions, caring for and managing these cultural resources, is vital because they serve as a testimony to the country’s history, collective memories and personal stories. “As the steward of a national collection of audiovisual documents, we’re strongly committed to building a skilled and sustainable organization that’s valued for its contributions to enriching cultural identity and for enabling engagement with these precious assets,” Wang said.
Write to Kelly Her at kher@mofa.gov.tw