Dear Taiwan
2011
Taiwan
Documentary
color
83min
Mandarin
DigiBeta
"Who am I?", is a simple question that the Taiwanese have never had an easy answer to. In the past century, the Taiwanese have fought against foreign ruling, and have continued pursuing democracy and freedom, seeking truth and justice along the way, and slowly developing a sense of nationalistic identity.
The making of Dear Taiwan is a long tortuous road. In the very beginning, I was asked questions like these: "Isn't this old-fashioned? Why would you do it?" "The national identity is a taboo, don't ever touch that!", "As long as they refer to that the Chinese Communists will attack us, this question will not have any answer..." After seeing the movie, a young university student wrote me: "... just forgot to say, I think the viewpoint of the film is what I look forward to. It presents in the most acceptable, rational, and warm way, but the emotions stirred up is far beyond imagination...". His response was my sweetest reward.
Thanks to those friends who questioned me and warned me and frustrated me in the beginning of the filming because by doing that they taught me how to be humble in dealing with the sensitive issues of national identity.
