Winner of the Golden Horse for Best Documentary, Our Youth in Taiwan follows two charismatic, young activists, Chen Wei-ting and Boyi Cai, fighting for change during one of the most tumultuous periods in the recent history of Taiwan and the surrounding region. Filmmaker Yue Fu begins her film just before Chen helps lead the student-driven, 23-day occupation of Taiwan’s parliament in 2014 and the publication of Boyi Cai’s book on her experiences as a mainland Chinese student engaged in political reform on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Throughout, Yue Fu offers herself as witness potential convert. What begins as a strikingly intimate portrait of each activist and the network of allies they build from Taipei to Hong Kong to Beijing, becomes a devastating account of the institutional challenges and personal pitfalls of building and sustaining political movements.
DCP, color, 118 min. Director: Yue Fu.
Part of the Taiwan Biennial Film Festival 2019
Organized by UCLA Film & Television Archive and cosponsored by Asia Pacific Center, Melnitz Movies, and Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles.