Chen Wen-min

Chen, Wen-min / Chen, Fen in original(1920–2022, /陳粉) was the first female director in Taiwan, screenwriter, and producer. When she was little, she asked her parents to let her study Japanese and arithmetic in the public school set up by the Japanese colonial government. Also, she used some money to invest in iron factories, banks, Japanese cuisine, noodles, theatres, and so on. Moreover, her elder brother Chen, Long-de (陳隆德) was the most famous developer of the electroplating and gold plating industry. She and her brother's business were both important industrial bloodlines in Sanchong's development.

After she gave birth to her seventh child in 1954, she founded the Daming Theatre, which is the fifth cinema in Sanchong District.

Film career Daming Cinema was established in 1955 when the first Taiwanese movie came out. Before the film selection, she read the detailed information carefully and did research on the synopsis of those films, which cultivated her ability in film selection from some aspects, such as characterization, plots, and inspiration of the movie, and discovered target audience's preferences. In the same period, she obtained the right of public transmission to the famous American movie, Gone with the wind, and made Daming Cinema gain more visibility and popularity in public.

Later in 1956, Chen and her husband Lin, Xin-quan(林辛全) established Taiwan Daming Film Production Unit (臺灣大明電影製片社) and produced their own film. The first film was called Female Enemies (女性的仇人), whose script was written by her. The main theme of the film was to explain why women should act more cautiously in society as compared to men. Female Enemies was released at four cinemas in 1958. In order to promote this movie, she held a quiz with twelve golden watches as a prize, which made the day of showing of Female Enemies last for twenty-one days.

After the success of their debut, her husband invited Shau Luo-hui (邵羅輝), a famous director at that time, to direct the second film, Xue Ren-Gui and Liu Jin-Hua (薛仁貴與柳金花), written by Chen. During the process of making the film, Chen, Wen-min and Shao, Lou-hui held different opinions to the plots of the film. In the end, Shau decided to walk away from the crew with the details, which forced Chen to complete the film by herself.

In 1957, to cost down the personnel budget, Chen decided to direct, produce, edit, and dub her first film Boundless Bird (茫茫鳥). The cast of Boundless Bird subsumed famous actors Bai Rong (白蓉), Hu Tou (戽斗), and Jin Feng (金楓). Therefore, after Boundless Bird was released, she became the first Taiwanese film director. In the same year, Chen, Wen-min filmed her subsequent movie, Suffering Love (苦戀) in a tear-jerker style. On November 1, 1957, the first Taiwanese Film Festival was held at the International House of Taipei. There were 33 films selected, including Female Enemies, Boundless Bird, and Suffering Love.

In 1959, due to the fact that the Film Industry in Taiwan had slumped, and Chen, Wen-min's husband was seriously injured in a car accident, she gave out the operation of the Cinema for a while. When Chen Wen-min resumed the operation, it was about to close down. In order to resuscitate the dying business, she directed Beggar Chao's Son-in-law (乞食招子婿). Yet, owing to the influence of Japanese smuggled movies, cinemas refused to air Beggar Chao’s Son-in-law. After the movie was released, it was unlikely to obtain sufficient return from the revenue due to the existing cost. Therefore, this setback ended her directing career. co-directed by Chen, Wen-Min and Chen, Yi-Sing. It held the distinction of being the first Taiwanese-language film directed by a female director. Also, it was Chen, Wen-Min's first Taiwanese-language fashion movie. At the 1957 Golden Horse Film Festival in Taiwan, three films by Chen, Wen-Min were selected: Boundless Bird, Suffering Love (苦戀), and Female Enemies (女性的仇人).

In the initial stages of the film's creation, serial pictures (also known as linked pictures) were utilized to develop the movie storyboards. The film predominantly used medium shots and panoramas to narrate the story, while combining natural and artificial light sources in order to reduce costs. Chen, Wen-Min was renowned for her insightful social commentary and meticulous character development. Her unique filmmaking approach involved expertly using the language of the camera to create a subtle and authentic portrayal of emotions, allowing the audience to deeply empathize with the characters' inner turmoil and pain. She also placed great emphasis on the minutiae, using subtle actions and dialogue to unveil the characters' personalities and emotions, thereby rendering them more genuine and relatable to the audience.