David on Formosa

I found out about plans for this new film from cleverCLAIRE. The film Formosa Betrayed is currently in pre-production with a planned release in 2008. The film is about the struggle of Taiwanese democracy and independence activists during the 1970s and 80s. It is a fictional story based on true events. The following synopsis comes from the film’s website.

Formosa Betrayed is a feature film about the harassment, torture, and murder of Taiwanese-American activists during the 1980s. Inspired by a true story, the film centers on the murder of a Taiwanese-American professor at the University of Kansas. An American detective – who knows nothing about Taiwan – is assigned to the case. Through the investigation of the professor’s murder, the detective begins to understand the complex nature of politics, identity, and power in Taiwan-U.S.-China relations.

I really hope this film gets made. It could make a great contribution to increasing international understanding of Taiwan’s situation. The planned release date coincides with the Beijing Olympics — I don’t think this is an accident. (A trailer for the film can be viewed here, but you need to e-mail the producers for a password.)

While the past decade has seen a plethora of books published about the sufferings of Chinese during the Cultural Revolution, the stories of the Taiwanese during the White Terror period remain largely unknown. The success of Wild Swans led to the publishing of many memoirs and stories from the Cultural Revolution. If this movie is successful it could lead to a similar trend.

I often lament the dearth of English language books about Taiwan available in Taiwan and internationally. One of the things I loved about living in Thailand was the extraordinary array of literature in English published about Thailand and Southeast Asia. There are actually several publishing houses in Thailand that specialise in publishing English language books and their books are widely available in Thailand. The situation here in Taiwan is a stark contrast.

Please note: The forthcoming movie should not be confused with the book of the same name. Formosa Betrayed is a book written by George Kerr who was a US diplomat stationed in Taiwan at the time of the 228 incident. The book can be downloaded as a pdf file here.