Bentu : marketplace and sentiments of contemporary Taiwan cinema

Taiwan film scholarship is a recent development. It began when the New Cinema came to fruition in the 1990s. By this time Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang had completed their most ambitious works and the debuts of Tsai Ming-liang and Ang Lee further enhanced the art cinema scene in Taiwan. In retrospect, though the New Cinema failed to lift domestic film’s commercial clout, it raised Taiwan film’s international prestige and cultural influence. But the New Cinema did not achieve this high reputation without struggle.