Taiwan Film Festival

Speaker: Film screenings with directors Liang-Yin Kuo and Hung Hung Commentary by Melissa Brown, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, and Ban Wang, Professor of Chinese Literature, Stanford University 2:00 pm Shonenko, 2006, 64 minutes Directed by Liang-Yin Kuo. This documentary presents the story of thousands of Taiwanese boys who were sent to Japan during World War II to help build fighter planes, at a time when Taiwan was a Japanese colony. They were known as shonenko, or child laborers. After the war, some of the surviving youth returned to Taiwan, some stayed in Japan, and some chose to seek future opportunities in China, facing a confusion of status, identity, and discrimination in each place. 3:20 pm The Affairs of Three Cities: The Game, 2006, 66 minutes Directed by Chuan Chung This documentary explores national loyalties and regional relations among ordinary Chinese and Taiwanese fans at international baseball and soccer games in Taipei, Beijing, and Tokyo. Historical attitudes toward each other, and toward Japanese, as well as current political and cultural tensions, are revealed through conversation with the game watchers. 4:30 pm Panel discussion on identity issues involving Taiwan, China, and Japan, moderated by Professor Melissa Brown, with Shonenko director Liang-Yin Kuo and Professor Ban Wang. 7:00 pm The Human Comedy, 2001 116 minutes Directed by Hung Hung A portrait of a postmodern Taiwan at the beginning of this millennium, this feature film weaves together four poignant stories about contemporary human relationships, juxtaposed with traditional anecdotes about filial piety. 9:00 pm Q&A with director Hung Hung, with comments by Professor Ban Wang. Co-sponsored by The Chuan Lyu Foundation, Asia Society, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco, and Center for East Asian Studies