Taiwan finds its spotlight in the Lumiere-led "Osmantos Alley" restored in its original language.

According to the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI), Taiwan has a national focus at the International Film Classics Market (MIFC), the industry arm of the Lyon Lumiere Festival, which is the first festival for a non-European country. Chen Kun-ho's new 4K remake of "Osmanthus Alley" directs Taiwan in Focus, which alongside this […]

The new 4K remake of Chen Kun-ho's "Osmanthus Alley" leads Taiwan in Focus, which runs alongside this year's guest country, Greece. Related stories for AI: Hollywood uses AI tools despite doomsday fears

TFAI uses this showcase to seek international distribution and programming partners for remastered Island classics. "Osmantos Alley" made its world premiere at the festival on October 12, starring Chen and star Lu Hsiao Fan. TFAI says distributors it has already worked with have expressed interest, and release terms and timing are still being negotiated.

Adapted from Hsiao Li Hong's novel, the film follows Tic Hong (Lu), an orphan who marries into a wealthy family, becomes a young widow, and finds her son sent to Japan, isolating him 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 Nin-Jen, received the Golden Horse for Best Original Film Song. Popular in Variety

The remake also brings back the film's original Taiwanese soundtrack. Chen insisted that it be shot in Taiwanese, but the state-run Central Motion Picture Company (CMPC) released the film in Mandarin in accordance with the government's policy of promoting the language at the time. Chen eventually convinced the studio to produce a Taiwanese version, but it only played in a limited number of theaters and gradually faded from view.

Its selection coincides with the 70th anniversary of Taiwanese-language cinema, which TFAI traces back to 1956's "Xue Pinggui yu Wang Baochuan." An estimated 1,200 Taiwanese-language films were made between 1960 and 1981, but only about 200 remain in TFAI's collection. The restructuring also foreshadows TFAI's 2027 focus on literary adaptations, while Chen's Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Golden Horse Awards sparked renewed interest in his work.

Chen started out as a cinematographer, winning a Golden Horse for He Never Gives Up (1978), and from 1979 he worked closely with Ho Hsiao Hsien, the pair often switching roles behind the camera. Chen's "Growing Up" won him the Golden Horse Award for Best Director in 1983.

TFAI restored "Osmanthus Alley" from its original 35mm negative, filling in the missing frames from a Taiwanese 35mm negative. The source was generally in good condition, but mold spots and dense clusters of small white spots needed careful treatment. Aggressive cleaning settings risked erasing image detail, so technicians used masks and pre-adjusted processing settings. Complete frame-by-frame manual repairs

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

The soundtrack has another link with the history of Taiwanese cinema. Non-Taiwanese-speaking actors were dubbed in post-production: co-star Lin Hsiu Ling voiced Lu's dialogue, while Ho voiced Tou.

TFAI, which has about 20,000 film titles, restores 10-12 films a year and has restored more than 100 films since 2013. Physical decay prompts climate control and emergency digitization, but full restoration depends on whether a film "has a clear purpose and an audience that experiences it in the present." Recent remakes include Tsai Ming Liang's Vive L'Amour, which premiered at the 2025 Venice Classics, and Dull Ice Flower, voted by Taiwanese audiences in a public poll and selected for this year's Cannes Classics. The Taiwanese language titles "Love Never Stops" and "Zhang Di Follows A-Zu" were remade for this anniversary.

Overseas, TFAI prioritizes live shows to introduce lesser-known titles before pursuing distribution and broadcast partnerships.

We want Taiwanese cinema audiences to explore beyond new Taiwanese cinema and see many different aspects of Taiwan,” TFAI tells Variety.

TFAI will also present an ongoing remake of Yao Feng Pan's All in a Dark Cold Night (1974) at MIFC's Rebirth program on October 15, and is seeking distributors and festival slots for the horror film. Often referred to as Taiwan's "King of Horror," Yao created 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 roundtable discussion with TFAI President Arthur Chu and Programmer Howard Yang, a networking event and an exhibition of original Taiwanese film posters.

The institute hopes to establish long-term programming partnerships with international archives and give restored Taiwanese films a life beyond their festival premieres. For "Osmanthus Alley," the next step is to secure overseas releases once it returns to screens.