Taiwanese Film Hunters Rescue Fading Reels of Cultural Past

Taiwan is engaged in a race against time to preserve a unique part of its cultural heritage: rare Taiwanese-language films, locally known as 'taiyupian.' Film hunters, like Wang Wei and his team, are meticulously salvaging and restoring aging film reels that represent a cinematic boom that flourished briefly from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s. These black-and-white movies were widely watched during a period when the Kuomintang (KMT) government, having fled to Taiwan, promoted Mandarin as the official language and sidelined Taiwanese Hokkien. Despite these policies, independent and private producers continued to create these culturally significant films. The challenge is immense, as film preservers estimate that fewer than a sixth of the approximately 1,200 films produced have survived. Arthur Chu, chairman of the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI), emphasizes their value, noting they represent "an almost-voiceless post-war generation" due to their short period of existence. Wang echoes this sentiment, calling the potential rediscovery of these films "meaningful" and a tribute to their creators. He warns that if these vintage reels are lost or deteriorate further, "there’s no way to bring them back." The films are particularly vulnerable to 'vinegar syndrome,' a chemical decay that causes the cellulose acetate material to become brittle, warped, or sticky. To combat this, the reels must be kept in cold storage before undergoing meticulous manual repair, scanning, and digital cleanup at restoration centers like the one operated by TFAI in New Taipei City. Film restorer Wu Long-hao describes the painstaking process, noting that some reels are so fragile they may only survive a single pass through a scanner. The effort involves not only restoration but also the difficult task of locating these films, many of which were lost or left to deteriorate in Taiwan's hot and humid climate. Wang himself has spent a decade chasing these movies, even finding rare celluloids in Los Angeles.

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an almost-voiceless post-war generation