Rediscovering New Taiwan Cinema in and outside of Greater China: Wei Te-sheng’s Cape No. 7 and Chang Tso-chi’s Soul of a Demon

Abstract

Wei Te-sheng’s Cape No. 7 and Chang Tso-chi’s Soul of a Demon are examples of Taiwanese films set in Taiwan during the era of Japanese rule. Since the early 2000s, many of these films have been well received by Taiwanese audiences. Both Cape No. 7 and Soul of a Demon address issues pertaining to Taiwanese identity and history, but how they approach these issues marks a drastic difference. In this paper, I will use Soul of a Demon and Cape No. 7 to illustrate the ongoing development of New Taiwan Cinema and to answer the following questions: How does a younger generation of filmmakers of New Taiwan Cinema endeavor to meet their audiences from different media platforms? How do they engage their audiences in conversations with popular topics when filmmaking today is more diversified in terms of circulation channels, funding resources, and reception?