Unruly Archives II

Principle Investigator：Hwa-Jen Tsai

This project investigates the notion of "the archive" through three intersecting approaches. The first part of the project rethinks documentary theory by analyzing neglected connections between classical film theory, writings of the historical avant-garde, and early documentary theory. It also critiques dominant Taiwanese cultural and political discourses on documentaries as representations of social truths. The second part of the project aims to analyze several queer Taiwanese films and video artworks through the lenses of moving-image theory and queer theory. It also highlights forms of minority archives that distinctly differ from the official archive. The third part of the project focuses on Taiwan cinema of the 1980s. It looks at what the veteran woman director Mimi Lee's films tell us about the dominant narrative of Taiwan film history. Through historical research, the project will show how a transnational and transdiasporic approach to Lee's films can open space to rethink Lee's unclaimed legacy of feminist filmmaking and, in so doing, uncover the hitherto unrecognized feminist and queer archives in Taiwan cinema.