Having worked as a playwright for the Moulin Rouge Shinjuku theater and served as an assistant director to master filmmakers such as Makino Masahiro at Toho Film Company, Lin Tuan-chiu (1920-1988) accumulated extensive experience in relevant industries. During the rise of Taiwanese-language cinema in the mid-1950s, he founded Yu Feng Film Company and established the large-scale Hushan Studio, which included a non-profit actor training program that cultivated numerous talents. The studio facilities were generously rented out to other production companies whenever available. These efforts were essential in laying the groundwork for Taiwan's film industry.

Lin recognized his films as Japanese films, and indeed, many aspects of his works exhibit reinterpretations of Japanese novels and cinema. Film critic Yamada Koichi noted that Lin’s films go beyond Japanese influences, incorporating memories and techniques from films around the world. Yamada and critic Hata Sahoko both argued that “a linear, vertical evolution” cannot fully capture the entirety of film history, and that understanding film history as “circular” or reminiscent of a rondo is more interesting. Their insight transcends the boundaries of time, region, and language by inviting a new form of cinema appreciation. Through the relationships between filmmakers, and exploring the motives, concepts, and styles of films, establishes a cyclical and “rondo-like” network of cinema.

To illustrate May 13th, Night of Sorrow (1965) shares similarities of the depiction with sisterhood in Makino Masahiro’s The Opium War (1943), while the latter is deeply influenced by D.W. Griffith’s classic, Orphans of the Storm (1921). In Six Suspects (1965), the car-driving scenes in the rain adopted techniques of omission, non-linear narrative, and fast-paced storytelling that all bear a striking resemblance to Inoue Umetsugu’s Crossroad (1956). Meanwhile, its jazz-inspired soundtrack evokes the French New Wave classic Elevator to the Gallows (1958), and its suspenseful overhead shots of characters lying in beds recall Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960).

Embodied with intriguing details and layers of charm, Lin’s films are complex and multifaceted works best admired through a rondo-esque perspective. TFAI proudly presents the retrospective of Lin Tuan-chiu, featuring all existing films and two special presentations: A reinterpretation of the lost Sigh for Fireworks through its screenplay and film stills, and the construction of the unfinished The Peach Blossom Fan through assembling the screenplay and rare, unedited film footage, making its exclusive premiere to the public.

Join us as we dance along the cinematic journey of Lin Tuan-chiu’s captivating works.

Curator: MISAWA Mamie

Consultant: SHIH Wan-shun