2024 Taipei Film Festival Outstanding Contribution Award goes to movie billboard painter Yan Jhen-fa After half a century’s dedication and despite his visual impairment, Yan vows to keep painting until he loses his eyesight
2024.04.09
Today (April 9) Taipei Film Festival announces that the 2024 Outstanding Contribution Award goes to the movie billboard painter Yan Jhen-fa. As the digital technologies develop, the craft of hand-painted movie billboards declines. To acknowledge the dedication and the outstanding contribution made by professionals in the film industry, the Taipei Film Festival committee board members searched for candidates and decided to award Yan Jhen-fa who is about to celebrate his 71st birthday next month.
Currently the principal movie billboard painter at Chuang Mei Theater in Tainan, Yan Jhen-fa has worked in the profession for more than five decades and painted thousands of movie posters. Suggested and supported by Chuang Mei Theater, Yan gives lessons on painting movie billboards, sharing his skills with those who are interested in this art. It is hoped that the skills could be passed down and the beauty of film preserved in this art form. Having dedicated all his life to film, Yan feels very moved when he learns that he himself is awarded the Taipei Film Festival Outstanding Contribution Award. He says, “I’ll keep painting until I lose my eyesight.”
Yan has always loved film and painting; at the age of eighteen, since he wanted to combine his interest in both, he learned to paint movie posters. His mentor Chen Feng-yung taught him the “grid method”; by drawing a grid over the original, it helps him to copy and enlarge the picture on another piece of paper. The more complicated the original picture is, the finer the grid should be to make the copy more detailed and precise. The facial features, especially the eyes, are the most difficult to reconstruct.
Yan expresses that in the old days, life was very hard for an apprentice because they were paid only two hundred (new Taiwan) dollars a month, and it usually took them more than three years to become a fully-fledged painter. However, Yan was so talented and worked so hard that his mentor allowed him to work independently after just two years’ training. Subsequently, he had worked in several movie theaters, including Yanping, Nantai, Kuohua, and Nandu in Tainan.
In the heyday of the Taiwanese film industry, more than two or three thousand posters had to be painted before the movies were released, and they needed four or five painters working around clock to finish the task. Now in his seventies, Yan’s eyes are seriously damaged due to the intense use of his eyes and the long hours of kneeling on the floor. Since the retina in his right eye was beyond repair, he lost vision in one eye and after having a laser surgery, he retains partial sight in his left eye, on which he relies.
Fortunately, Yan’s skills and contribution did not go unnoticed. In 2018, Gucci invited Yan to paint on a wall in Yongkang Street in Taipei for the brand. Moreover, Coldplay asked him to design an album cover in the retro style. Yan also painted posters for international productions, including Gemini Man, Logan, and The Miracles of the Namiya General Store; these posters were given to the filmmakers in Taiwan and from abroad as presents, proving that Yan is an outstanding professional treasured by the nation.
Since Yan has no apprentices, Chuang Mei Theater suggests that he should pass down his skills and therefore, Yan teaches in a course on hand-painted movie billboards at Chuang Mei Theater on the weekends. It enjoys huge popularity as many people from Taiwan and abroad come to Tainan for the lessons.
Although Yan works in the theater every day and painted thousands of movie billboards, his name has never appeared in the end credits of any films. Today, as he is awarded the Taipei Film Festival Outstanding Contribution Award, he finally gains recognition in the film industry. This is such a great comfort that Yan proudly says, “I feel I am part of film production.”
2024 Taipei Film Festival is scheduled to take place between June 21 and July 6 at Taipei Zhongshan Hall, Vie Show Cinemas Xinyi and SPOT-Huashan Cinema. The program and the events will be announced in the following months, and the International New Talent Competition as well as the Taipei Film Award nominations will be unveiled in mid-May. For more details, please visit Taipei Film Festival official website (https://www.taipeiff.taipei/tw/), Instagram (https://instagram.com/taipeiff) or Facebook Fanpage (https://www.facebook.com/TaipeiFilmFestival).
Currently the principal movie billboard painter at Chuang Mei Theater in Tainan, Yan Jhen-fa has worked in the profession for more than five decades and painted thousands of movie posters. Suggested and supported by Chuang Mei Theater, Yan gives lessons on painting movie billboards, sharing his skills with those who are interested in this art. It is hoped that the skills could be passed down and the beauty of film preserved in this art form. Having dedicated all his life to film, Yan feels very moved when he learns that he himself is awarded the Taipei Film Festival Outstanding Contribution Award. He says, “I’ll keep painting until I lose my eyesight.”
Yan has always loved film and painting; at the age of eighteen, since he wanted to combine his interest in both, he learned to paint movie posters. His mentor Chen Feng-yung taught him the “grid method”; by drawing a grid over the original, it helps him to copy and enlarge the picture on another piece of paper. The more complicated the original picture is, the finer the grid should be to make the copy more detailed and precise. The facial features, especially the eyes, are the most difficult to reconstruct.
Yan expresses that in the old days, life was very hard for an apprentice because they were paid only two hundred (new Taiwan) dollars a month, and it usually took them more than three years to become a fully-fledged painter. However, Yan was so talented and worked so hard that his mentor allowed him to work independently after just two years’ training. Subsequently, he had worked in several movie theaters, including Yanping, Nantai, Kuohua, and Nandu in Tainan.
In the heyday of the Taiwanese film industry, more than two or three thousand posters had to be painted before the movies were released, and they needed four or five painters working around clock to finish the task. Now in his seventies, Yan’s eyes are seriously damaged due to the intense use of his eyes and the long hours of kneeling on the floor. Since the retina in his right eye was beyond repair, he lost vision in one eye and after having a laser surgery, he retains partial sight in his left eye, on which he relies.
Fortunately, Yan’s skills and contribution did not go unnoticed. In 2018, Gucci invited Yan to paint on a wall in Yongkang Street in Taipei for the brand. Moreover, Coldplay asked him to design an album cover in the retro style. Yan also painted posters for international productions, including Gemini Man, Logan, and The Miracles of the Namiya General Store; these posters were given to the filmmakers in Taiwan and from abroad as presents, proving that Yan is an outstanding professional treasured by the nation.
Since Yan has no apprentices, Chuang Mei Theater suggests that he should pass down his skills and therefore, Yan teaches in a course on hand-painted movie billboards at Chuang Mei Theater on the weekends. It enjoys huge popularity as many people from Taiwan and abroad come to Tainan for the lessons.
Although Yan works in the theater every day and painted thousands of movie billboards, his name has never appeared in the end credits of any films. Today, as he is awarded the Taipei Film Festival Outstanding Contribution Award, he finally gains recognition in the film industry. This is such a great comfort that Yan proudly says, “I feel I am part of film production.”
2024 Taipei Film Festival is scheduled to take place between June 21 and July 6 at Taipei Zhongshan Hall, Vie Show Cinemas Xinyi and SPOT-Huashan Cinema. The program and the events will be announced in the following months, and the International New Talent Competition as well as the Taipei Film Award nominations will be unveiled in mid-May. For more details, please visit Taipei Film Festival official website (https://www.taipeiff.taipei/tw/), Instagram (https://instagram.com/taipeiff) or Facebook Fanpage (https://www.facebook.com/TaipeiFilmFestival).