Film Posters and Popular Culture: The Works of Chen Zi-Fu as a Case Study

Speaker: Dr Chen Yawen

Abstract

Chen Zi-Fu’s film posters date back to the time between the 1950s and the 1970s. In this period Taiwanese films and the glorious days of mandarin martial art movies were thriving. His posters represent the golden era of Taiwan film history. As a folk art with unrestrained vitality, these posters are worthy of rediscovering and re-evaluating. Based on the great amount of archival images, the pattern of Chen Zi-Fu’s visual strategy can be analysed. These images also reflect the changes in film production, design history and popular culture of Taiwan at that time.

Speaker's Bio

Chen Yawen received a PhD in Humanities and Cultural Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London. Her research interests include Film studies, History of Art and Visual Culture. Her current research projects are 3D visualisation of Boulevard des Italiens, Paris 1900 (collaborating with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland) and news footage of 1930s China at the Archives of Contemporary History, ETH Zurich. She also works at the Department of Education and Outreach at Bern History Museum, Switzerland.

Organiser: Centre of Taiwan Studies

Contact email: lr27@soas.ac.uk