2012 Taiwan Documentary Film Screening Tour

Taipei Cultural Center in New York collaborates with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies of Harvard University, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures of Rutgers University, Center for East Asian Studies and Cinema Studies Program of University of Pennsylvania, Asia/Pacific Studies Institute, the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image and the Department of Middle Eastern and Asia Studies of Duke University to introduce and share outstanding documentaries by touring the winner and nominated films of Taiwanese directors at the Universities and Taiwan Academy in New York, Los Angeles and Houston. The goal is to display the diversity of Taiwan to the U.S. audience, encourage exchange of ideals, as well as initiate critical discussions about the issues raised in the films.

The 2012 Taiwan Documentary Film Screening Tour will feature a selection of films from 2008 and 2010’s biennial Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF), including Let The Wind Carry Me (2009) by Chiang Hsiu-chiung and Kwan Pun-leung; They are flying (2008) by Huang Chia-Chun; An Exposure of Affected hospital (2007) by Chu Hsien-Che; and Somewhere over the Cloud (2007) by Hsiao Mei-Ling.

Let The Wind Carry Me (2009) by Chiang Hsiu-chiung and Kwan Pun-leung
What can be retained with photography? Where is the cinema leading us? Is there meaning to life after all? Mark LEE goes on the road and tries to answer these questions at a pace of 24 frames per second. We followed his swinging footsteps and gathered the fragments lost between frames to discover the passion he gave to the Taiwanese cinema.

They are flying (2008) by Huang Chia-Chun
"Flying" boys? It refers to the kids with abnormal behavior, those "no go" boys! Some of them have lost their parents and family, some are abandoned by their family or school. The shattered hearts and souls of those children are like a broken puzzle, now many people have come up the decision to help the boys to mend and complete the puzzle of their life!

“There’s something different with the children of Hualien’s Faith and Love Youth academy, for they can not get love and recognition from the family, the school, or the society. How important love is for a child? In the summer of 2006, more than 30 of them set off for a 20-day 1000-kilometer around-the-island tour. Reverend Huang and Youth detention officer Lu Su-Wei risked their job to accompany these children to accomplish this challenge, for they believe this one-in-a-million chance of success will bring an incredible change to those children, whom are incurable in the eyes of others. Are they going get through this challenge of life?” – Huang Chia-Chun

An Exposure of Affected Hospital (2007) by Chu Hsien-Che
The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) broke out at Heping Hospital in Taiwan in 2003. The government decided to isolate the hospital and asked all staff member to return. Dr. Chou defied the return order. Following Dr. Chou’s lawsuit against the government, an inconvenient truth in this affected hospital was discovered.

“The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak at the Heping Hospital was one of the most important incidents in Taiwan in the last decade. Like other incidents of collective panic on the island, most of us chose silence in the face of this pandemic, but, has the story of this incident ended? Will such pain go away? Have we learned enough from it so we can deal with similar outbreaks in the future?” - Chu Hsien-Che

Somewhere Over the Cloud (2007) by Hsiao Mei-Ling
A series of letters that the filmmaker has written to her late teacher and guide, the renowned American documentary filmmaker Robert Kramer (1939-1999) is woven throughout the plot of the story as the boundaries of life, distance, language, identity and nationality are reexamined from the perspective of Elodie, her daughter.

Elodie is a girl of mixed French and Taiwanese descendant. At her birth, her French father arrives in Taiwan to stay for one year. After returning to France, the Internet web cam becomes the means by which they know one another, and a real father is confined behind a small, virtual screen. The meaning of “Daddy’ begins to change along with Elodie’s growth, from being the computer, to the mouthpiece to the teddy bear, to the intruder who competes with her for her mother's affection.

Harvard University, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
April 1, 7:00PM, Let The Wind Carry Me /
Discussion with director
S010 Tsai Auditorium (1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA 02138)
April 2, 7:00PM, Somewhere Over The Cloud / Discussion with director
Room S030 (1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA 02138)
Tel: 617-495-4046
http://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/

Taiwan Academy in New York
April 5, 7:00PM, Somewhere Over The Cloud / Discussion with director
Auditorium, TECO (1 East 42nd Street, New York)
April 6, 7:00PM, Let The Wind Carry Me / Discussion with director
Auditorium, TECO (1 East 42nd Street, New York)
Tel: 212-697-6188
http://www.tpecc.org

Rutgers University
April 10, 4:30PM, Let The Wind Carry Me / Discussion with director
Lecture Hall, Alexander Library, Rutgers University
April 11, 7:30PM, An Exposure of Affected Hospital / Discussion with director
Room 001, Dr. Ruth M. Adams Building, Rutgers University
Tel : 732-932-7605
https://www.sas.rutgers.edu/cms/asian/

University of Pennsylvania
April 12, 1:30PM, An Exposure of Affected Hospital / Discussion with director
Claire Fagin Hall 218, University of Pennsylvania
April 13, 10:30AM, They are Flying / Discussion with director
Stiteler Hall B21, University of Pennsylvania
Tel: 215-898-7466
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ealc/

Duke University
April 16, 7:00PM, An Exposure of Affected Hospital / Discussion with director
Griffith Theatre, Bryan University Center, Duke University
April 17, 7:00PM, They are Flying / Discussion with director
Griffith Theatre, Bryan University Center, Duke University
http://asianmideast.duke.edu/

Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles
April 21, 1:00-5:00PM, screening Let The Wind Carry Me and Somewhere Over The Cloud

Taiwan Academy in Houston
May 12, 2:00PM, screening Let The Wind Carry Me
May 19, 2:00PM, screening Somewhere Over The Cloud