Taiwan Gets Its Own Spotlight at Lumière, Led by Restored ‘Osmanthus Alley’ in Its Original Language

Taiwan is getting a dedicated national focus at the International Classic Film Market (MIFC), the industry arm of Lyon’s Lumière Festival, the first for a non-European country, according to the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI).

A new 4K restoration of Chen Kun-hou’s “Osmanthus Alley” leads the Taiwan in Focus program, which runs alongside this year’s guest country, Greece.

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TFAI is using the showcase to seek international distribution and programming partners for the island’s restored classics. “Osmanthus Alley” made its world premiere at the festival on Oct. 12, with Chen and star Lu Hsiao-fen in attendance. TFAI says distributors it has previously worked with have expressed interest, with release terms and timing still under negotiation.

Adapted from Hsiao Li-hung’s novel, the film follows Thik-hông (Lu), an orphan who marries into a wealthy family, is widowed young and sees her son sent away to Japan, leaving her isolated behind the walls of the family estate. Simon Yam and Tuo Tsung-hua appear in guest roles. Lu won best actress at the 1987 Asia Pacific Film Festival, and the theme song, with lyrics by Wu Nien-jen, took the Golden Horse for best original film song.

The restoration also brings back the film’s original Taiwanese soundtrack. Chen insisted on shooting in Taiwanese, but state-run Central Motion Picture Corporation (CMPC) chose to release the film in Mandarin, in line with the government’s policy of promoting the language at the time. Chen eventually persuaded the studio to produce a Taiwanese version, but it played in only a limited number of theaters and gradually faded from view.

Its selection coincides with the 70th anniversary of Taiwanese-language cinema, which TFAI traces to 1956’s “Xue Pinggui yu Wang Baochuan.” An estimated 1,200 Taiwanese-language films were made between the 1960s and 1981, but only about 200 survive in TFAI’s collection. The restoration also anticipates TFAI’s 2027 focus on literary adaptations, while Chen’s lifetime achievement award at the 2023 Golden Horse Awards prompted renewed interest in his work.

Chen began as a cinematographer, winning a Golden Horse for “He Never Gives Up” (1978), and from 1979 worked closely with Hou Hsiao-hsien, the pair often trading roles behind the camera. Chen’s “Growing Up” won him the Golden Horse for best director in 1983.

TFAI restored “Osmanthus Alley” from its original 35mm negative, filling missing frames from an interpositive, with audio drawn from the 35mm Taiwanese sound negative. The source was generally in good condition, but mold spots and dense clusters of small white specks required careful treatment. Aggressive cleaning settings risked erasing image detail, so technicians used masks and adjusted processing settings before completing frame-by-frame manual repairs.

In line with FIAF’s code of ethics, Chen was repeatedly consulted. An intermediate version had more saturated, vibrant colors, but discussions with the director led to a more subdued final grade, closer to the original photography.

Tu Duu-chih, who handled the film’s original sound mix, returned to help restore the Taiwanese soundtrack from six primary audio reels. The team synchronized the material, repaired damaged sections and reduced noise through multiple passes using light processing settings.

The soundtrack holds another connection to Taiwanese cinema history. Cast members who did not speak Taiwanese were dubbed in post-production: co-star Lin Hsiu-ling voiced Lu’s dialogue, while Hou provided the voice for Tuo.

TFAI, which holds about 20,000 film titles, restores 10 to 12 films a year and has restored more than 100 since 2013. Physical deterioration prompts climate control and emergency digitization, but a full restoration depends on whether a film has “a clear purpose and an audience ready to experience it right now,” the institute says. Recent restorations include Tsai Ming-liang’s “Vive L’Amour,” which screened in Venice Classics in 2025, and “The Dull Ice Flower,” chosen by Taiwanese audiences in a public poll and selected for Cannes Classics this year. Taiwanese-language titles “Love Never Ceases” and “Zhang Di Seeks A-Zu” were restored for the anniversary.

Overseas, TFAI prioritizes in-person screenings to introduce lesser-known titles before pursuing distribution and streaming partnerships.

“We want audiences to discover Taiwan cinema beyond Taiwan New Cinema and see the many different facets of Taiwan,” TFAI tells Variety.

TFAI will also pitch its ongoing restoration of Yao Feng-pan’s “All in the Dim Cold Night” (1974) at MIFC’s Re>birth program on Oct. 15, seeking distributors and festival slots for the horror film. Often called Taiwan’s “King of Horror,” Yao built the film’s eerie atmosphere without modern visual effects, relying on practical techniques such as low-angle green lighting and burning straw on location.

Taiwan in Focus also includes a round table with TFAI chair Arthur Chu and programmer Howard Yang, a networking event and an exhibition of original Taiwanese film posters.

The institute hopes to build longer-term programming partnerships with international archives, giving restored Taiwanese films a life beyond their festival premieres. For “Osmanthus Alley,” the next step is securing overseas releases following its return to the screen.