New movie ‘Untold Herstory’ depicts Taiwanese women’s concentration camp

New movie ‘Untold Herstory’ depicts Taiwanese women’s concentration camp

2022-09-23

A new film to be released in October, tells the true stories of Taiwan’s female political prisoners. In the 1950s, many women were sent to a concentration camp on Green Island for so-called political crimes. And the film’s producer is none other than former legislator Yao Wen-chih. After losing the Taipei mayoral election in 2018, Yao bowed out of politics. But now he’s back in the news, with the first major release of his film company. Directed by Zero Chou, the movie is based on ’Bonfire Island’ by Tsao Chin-jung.

Since leaving the legislature, Yao Wen-chih spent a while in obscurity. Now he’s back in this exclusive interview with FTV, not to talk politics, but to promote his new movie. “Untold Herstory” comes out in October.

Yao Wen-chih
Former lawmaker
Liumagou is the only natural spring on Green Island. In those days, all the political prisoners were given the code “Liumagou No. 15.” What I’m looking forward to is everybody understanding that era better, and understanding how our democratic freedoms came to evolve.

“Untold Herstory” tells the true stories of Taiwanese women who were convicted of political crimes in the 1950s. They were sent to a concentration camp on Green Island to undergo “ideological reeducation.” The contrasting stories of three women of different generations are told side by side. But what they share in common is being seized and sent to the camp for reading unacceptable books or singing controversial songs. Yao says that if these stories aren’t captured, the picture of Taiwan’s history will be incomplete.

Yao Wen-chih
Former lawmaker
If we don’t tell these stories enough, then our next generation won’t know how we got here. If you’ve seen the Korean film “A Taxi Driver,” it shows the evolution of the era from the perspectives of ordinary people. For the last decade or two decades, I’ve been wishing there would be people with the breadth of vision, and more financiers, who would do things like this. But I never saw it. Now that I’m no longer a legislator, I can do it.

Tsao Chin-jung
Author of ‘Untold Herstory’
I’m really looking forward to it. There are no films that are based on material from oral accounts of Taiwanese history.

Yao was under immense pressure at certain points during filming when finances were tight.

Yao Wen-chih
Former lawmaker
The hardest thing was spending a million dollars every day, just burning through it while filming is underway. At that point we had a funding shortfall of NT$40 million. We were continuously managing the crew there. I hope we can expand on Taiwan’s history with many movies. What I’m planning now is the story is Chen Cheng-po, as well as a love story against the backdrop of the 1935 Taiwan Exposition.

Despite the financial strain, Yao says he will stay in the movie business. He wants to use the silver screen to ignite more conversations about the roots of Taiwan’s history and society.

轉戰影壇第一張成績單! 獨家專訪姚文智

2022-09-23

2018年參選台北市長失利的姚文智，宣布退出政壇後，全心投入電影創作，首部作品《流麻溝十五號》，敘述白色恐怖時代，女性政治犯的故事。而姚文智也接受民視獨家專訪，強調以本土歷史為題材的電影，實在太少，未來會持續拍攝下去，要把台灣的歷史，讓更多人知道。

許久沒有在新聞鏡頭前露面的前立委姚文智，接受民視獨家專訪，談起退出政壇後，拍攝的電影作品"流麻溝十五號"，即將上映，心情是滿滿的感動。

[[前立委姚文智]]
“流麻溝是綠島唯一的水源，所有的政治受難者，當時他們的門牌號碼，就是流麻溝十五號，期待的是說，大家了解那個世代，知道我們的民主自由，它是怎麼演變而來的”

《流麻溝十五號》內容，主要是在描述1950年代，台灣女性政治受難者到綠島集中營進行"思想再教育"的真實故事，電影刻畫三位不同年齡與身份的女性，因為讀了幾本書、唱幾首歌，就"被消失"帶至綠島服刑。姚文智強調，這些真實歷史事件不拍，就是台灣歷史上的空白。

[[前立委姚文智]]
“我們故事會說得太少，我們下一代會不知道，我們怎麼走過來，大家如果有看到韓國那部《我只是一個計程車司機》，用庶民的觀點去看整個時代的演變，過去一、二十年我一直期待有更多的有識之士，更多財團來做這個事，都沒有看到，我不當立委了，就做這件事”

[[《流麻溝十五號》原著作者曹欽榮]]
“非常的期待，台灣過去歷史沒有根據口述的材料，去改編成電影的”

而姚文智回想起拍攝期間，碰到資金問題，坦言壓力超級大。

[[前立委姚文智]]
“最困難的時候，一天一百萬，一百萬，一直燒在拍攝的時候，那時候資金缺口會到4000萬，那時候就不斷在調度啊。我希望把台灣的故事，一部接一部把它拓展出來，在籌備的就是陳澄波的故事，還有1935年為背景，台灣博覽會的愛情故事”

儘管資金籌措困難，姚文智的電影夢仍會持續，要用鏡頭，把台灣的歷史故事，說給更多人聽。

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Shan Feng
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The price of tickets to Japan is up by 30% to 40%. But it’s worth it if you visit as an independent traveler, because shopping and other expenses are cheaper thanks to the weaker yen.

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