Happy Lunar New Year from the USC US-China Institute!
EASC Taiwanese Documentary Series
The USC East Asian Studies Center presents the Taiwanese Documentary Series.
When:
September 16, 2015 2:00pm to 10:00pm
Where
2:00-2:05pm
Welcome and Introduction of Filmmakers FU YUE and HO CHAO-TI by Professor Stanley Rosen of Political Science, USC
2:10-2:40pm
I am in Taiwan 《我在台灣，我正青春》 (2013, 30 minutes)
2:45-4:00pm
Sock’n’Roll 《台灣黑狗兄》 (2013, 72 minutes)
4:00-5:00pm
Panel with Mr. Tieh-chih Chang, Filmmakers FU and HO, and Professor Daniel Lynch of International Relations, USC; Moderated by Professor Stanley Rosen and translation provided by Dr. Katherine Chu
7:00-9:00pm
Sunflower Occupation 《太陽‧不遠》 (2014, 120 minutes)
9:00-10:00pm
Q&A with Filmmakers FU and HO; Moderated by Professor Stanley Rosen and translation provided by Dr. Katherine Chu
ABOUT THE FILMS
I am in Taiwan 《我在台灣，我正青春》 (2013, 30 minutes)
The 2013 short documentary I am in Taiwan by FU YUE documents the journey of Tsai Boyi (蔡博藝), one of the first wave of mainland Chinese students permitted to enroll at a Taiwanese university for the entire 4 years of undergraduate study. After two months of being in Taiwan, she wrote a piece comparing mainland China and Taiwan titled "I am in Taiwan," which went viral across both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Immersed in her life in Taiwan, she became active in community and political issues, such as forced evacuation and seizure of lands and homes by the government. Through her active involvement, Tsai became friends with more like-minded local Taiwanese youth fighting various struggles across Taiwan. However, as her friends stand at the frontlines of their battles, she is unable to stand with them and can only be an outside observer.
2013 年 紀錄短片《我在台灣，我正青春》圍繞著一位從中國大陸來臺灣唸書的女大學生蔡博藝，她是第一批被允許在臺灣讀書4年的大陸人，俗稱「陸生」。她來臺灣2個月之後，寫了一篇名為〈我在臺灣，我正青春〉的兩岸觀察比較文章，在網路上被兩岸民眾快速大量轉載，吸引到出版社為她出書，她也因此成為年輕的暢銷作家。 在寫書的過程當中，她越深入認識臺灣，就發現越多臺灣社會的缺失，尤其在她的學區淡水，有些居民正面臨家園將可能被強制徵收的處境，她便一頭栽入了反徵收的行列，也因此認識到更多臺灣各地正在進行的抗爭事件與年輕人。當她的伙伴們站在抗爭的最前線時，她卻無法和大家站在一起，只能做一名前來寫書取材的外圍觀察者，因為一旦她因為抗爭而被逮捕，會是一件很麻煩的事情。
Sock’n’Roll 《台灣黑狗兄》 (2013, 72 minutes)
The often mundane product of socks, the existence of which almost everyone takes for granted, takes center stage in veteran documentary filmmaker HO CHAO-TI’s Sock’n’Roll, which revolves around a hosier named Lee Tung-lin (李東林) and his family in the small town of Shetou (社頭), Changhua County. Lee’s struggle with cancelled orders from a subcontractor of Adidas reveals that his story in many ways epitomizes the challenges of globalization faced by Taiwan’s small and medium-sized enterprises. The 45-year-old Lee, refusing to accept the imminent demise of his business, decides the only way out is to create his own brand of sports socks. Through Ho’s lens, we watch closely as Lee struggles to reinvent himself from a traditional factory owner who “gets orders from a fax machine” to an entrepreneur making business connections in Taipei.
《台灣黑狗兄》是記錄在全球化衝擊下，台灣社頭襪子工廠小頭家逆境突圍的故事。原本，一雙襪子可以讓一對夫妻買房子、養孩子，甚至從家庭代工變成頭家老闆。現在，這些夢想卻被全球化的大浪衝擊，唯有「黑狗兄」李東林不願向命運低頭，決定自己拯救自己。因為年輕時看起來很「漂撇」，所以大家都叫他黑狗兄。曾經夢想要當排球國手，但因車禍受傷，只能放棄轉唸紡織科，將對運動的熱愛轉到製造運動襪上。他漸漸闖出名號，更接下知名運動品牌代工，在2011年創下了業績高峰。沒料到相隔一年，來自國外的訂單卻無預警地消失了。將近45歲的他，事業亮起紅燈，困擾多年的腰痛越來越嚴重，這些不順，讓他一度想要臥軌輕生。幸好，體貼的太太與孩子，是他支撐下去的力量。他開始研發機能型運動襪，試穿的好口碑，讓他從谷底重拾信心，想要自創品牌。天人交戰，左右為難，他該如何堅持下去？這是在全球化殘酷戰局下，一個一個台灣黑狗兄拒絕被K.O的故事。
Sunflower Occupation 《太陽‧不遠》 (2014, 120 minutes)
A year after the historic occupation of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, a 9-part collaboration documentary has been made featuring the stories and timeline of events during this student-led Sunflower Movement. Backed by the Taiwan Documentary Filmmakers' Union and produced by HO CHAO-TI and Tsai Tsung-lung, Sunflower Occupation is a concerted effort by multiple filmmakers to document this unprecedented series of events.
The Sunflower Student Movement, driven by a coalition of students and civic groups, protested the passing of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (also known as the Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services, 海峽兩岸服務貿易協議) by the Kuomintang party in the legislature which was hastily approved without review. The Sunflower image was associated with this massive student protest after a florist contributed 1000 sunflowers to the students camped outside the Legislative Yuan, and it became a symbol of hope for the movement. The occupation lasted 24 days between March 18 and April 10, 2014.
The documentary takes you inside the movement through the stories and perspectives of student organizers and leaders. Of particular note is the cinéma vérité portion documenting students taking over the Legislative Yuan building, as seen in FU YUE's segment of the film, "A Commander Made by Accident," which focuses on Chen Wei-ting, one of the movement's three student leaders. The film raises questions such as – what is democracy? What is the government? What is violence? What is our future? What is the happiness we seek? Who is "we?”
為了抗議《兩岸服貿協議》黑箱作業，台灣在2014 年發生長達24天的占領國會運動。青年學生為何占領議會？在 24 天中，青年如何被改變？24天後他們又改變了什麼？青年們衝進立法院，撐開了一個無盡擴張的黑洞，緊接而來的是無止息的基本追問：什麼是民主？什麼是政府？什麼是公平？什麼是暴力？什麼是我們的未來？什麼是我們的幸福？什麼是「我們」？
Cost:
Free, registration required.
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