The man was painting movie signs by hand

Man painting the billboards for the movie

As I walked through the narrow streets of Tainan, I noticed a man crouched by the roadside, completely absorbed in his work. Before him stood a massive canvas—or so I thought at first. But it wasn’t a canvas.

It was a hand-painted movie billboard.

Across the street, a weathered old cinema came into view, a place steeped in Taiwan’s rich film culture. This man was painting a new movie poster, likely to be displayed at the theater’s entrance.

Holding a brush, he worked in silent concentration, completely unfazed by my presence. His focus was absolute. A craftsman, in the truest sense of the word—one who speaks not through words, but through his hands, his colors, and his brushstrokes.

I soon realized that every time the theater changed its lineup, a new hand-painted sign was created. Yet, rather than discarding the old billboards, this artist painted over them, layering one story atop another.

Beneath his brush, traces of an older film remained—a past era of cinema flickering through the paint. Once, the space had been filled with the vivid energy of animated pandas and tigers, their forms still faintly visible beneath the new strokes. But those playful figures were now giving way to something entirely different—the delicate expressions of lovers caught in a cinematic romance.

With each new film, the city itself seemed to transform.

These billboards were more than just advertisements. They were living, evolving records of time, preserving the memory of every story that had passed through this small corner of Tainan.

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