The Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library (鄭裕彤東亞圖書館) at the University of Toronto hosted two public Taiwan film-related events in November, 2017. The first was a keynote paper given as part of the Taiwan Lecture on Chinese Studies series by Dr. Ru-Shou Robert Chen (陳儒修教授) on November 7 on the topic “Taiwan Cinema and the Specter of the Martial Law” (臺灣電影與戒嚴令的幽靈). Dr. Chen is a professor in the Department of Radio & Television at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. Professor Bart Testa from the Innis College and Cinema Studies Institute at the University of Toronto then provided his response to Dr. Chen’s paper.

Under a partnership between the University of Toronto Libraries and the National Central Library in Taiwan, the Taiwan Resource Centre for Chinese Studies program runs a Taiwan Lecture on Chinese Studies series, to present new Sinological scholarship, and facilitate further academic exchanges between Taiwan and Canada.

The Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library then hosted the Taiwan Short Films Screening with Discussions on the following day, November 8. This second film-related event was organized in partnership with the Windows of Formosa Film Festival (福爾摩沙電影櫥窗) in Taiwan, and the the Windows of Formosa Film Festival group generously provided the five short films selected and screened: Mother’s Day (母親節), The Door (門), Post-Human (後人類), The Lonely Time (孤獨時光) and Snail School (慢吞吞小學). After the film screenings, Dr. Chen and Professor Testa provided commentaries on each one and answered questions from the audience.

This is the second Taiwan film screening that the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library has hosted. In 2016, in partnership with the North American Taiwan Studies Association (NATSA) (北美臺灣研究協會) the library hosted a documentary screening of “Returning Souls (讓靈魂回家)”, a film by Professor Hu Tai-Li (胡台麗) from Academia Sinica portraying indigenous Taiwanese cultures.

Both film events were co-hosted by the Global Taiwan Studies Program. This three-year program, launched in June 2016, is a collaboration between the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Munk School of Global Affairs of the University of Toronto.
photo:Five Taiwanese short films being screened and discussed