Early Cinema in Colonial Taiwan

What was the role of cinema during the expansion of empires in East Asia? This talk introduces early film culture in colonial Taiwan and sheds light on the intermediality between cinema and other popular media during the first half of the twentieth century. Inspired by media archaeology to investigate “where was cinema” in the colonial context during Sino-Japanese encounters, Professor Laura Jo-Han Wen explores the techno-historical significance of cinema and examines the role of early film culture in modern discourses propagated by the Japanese empire. Rare images and archival materials concerning magic lantern shows, talkies, and eight-millimeter films will be revisited in this talk in the discussion of transnational modernism, colonial propaganda, and the practice of amateur cinema.

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