Auteurism and Taiwan New Cinema

Abstract

The 1987 mission statement of Taiwan New Cinema declared that it supported ”auteurs with creative intention,” who were distinguished from commercial movie directors, especially those from Hong Kong and Hollywood. This indicates TNC directors' intention of allying with the French ”Nouvelle Vague”. The success story of TNC directors constantly winning prizes in international film festivals was the result of an orchestration of various forces working simultaneously: the spread of the auteur theory in local film journals; local critics' efforts in connecting with international critics, especially those of ”Cahiers du cinema”, the hotbed for auteurism; government sponsorship, and so on. But the mission statement also prefigured the end of TNC, since domestic audiences soon lost interest in its elitist approach. This paper, examining the French journal ”Cahiers du cinema”, points out that the pitfall of auteurism is ”an aesthetic cult of personality” and the myth of personal signature that leads to endless self-repetition. Taiwan New Cinema directors are all faithful practitioners of auteurism. For theorists of ”Cahiers du cinema”, on the other hand, the prevalence of auteurism in third world countries marks the superiority of the French film industry in the competetion with Hollywood.