ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine the reception of Taiwan cinema in Brazil between the 1980s and the 2010s, leading to a broader reflection on the process of distribution and exhibition of Taiwanese films abroad. It suggests that the current commercial trend in Taiwan cinema has provoked a significant shift in the perception of national identity as related to cinema, and that in the new century, when cinephilia no longer means what it once did, there might still be a place for Taiwanese films among Brazilian cinema audiences. There is no doubt that the presence of Taiwan New Cinema films as well as other Taiwanese titles in the São Paulo International Film Festival and, more recently, in the Rio International Film Festival, have a connection with their previously found prestige in European film festivals such as Cannes, Venice and Berlin. Most notably, the Venice Film Festival has nurtured a special fondness for Chinese-language films.
