Documentary screening and director Q&A: ‘The Lost Youth: Women and Industrial Work in Taiwan’
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
- Venue
- SOAS Main Building
- Room
- KLT
- Event type
- Film screening
About this event
The Centre of Taiwan Studies is delighted to screen the documentary The Lost Youth: Women and Industrial Work in Taiwan, followed by a director Q&A with Wan-Ching Ke, as part of this year’s Centre of Taiwan Studies Summer School.
On 3 December 1966, the first export processing zone in Taiwan was established in the Cianjhen District of Kaohsiung, marking a structural shift in Taiwan’s economic and social development. During this era, thousands of rural women moved to the city to work as factory operators. Serving as the primary labor force and a key economic support for their families, they initiated a new chapter in the history of the Taiwanese female labor movement.
The Lost Youth: Women and Industrial Work in Taiwan is a documentary centered on the history of 1960s female workers in Taiwan. Through interviews with senior female workers, paired with precious archival footage and period-specific popular songs, the film examines the long-term impact of the export processing zone on Taiwan’s economic development, labor rights, and the personal trajectories of these women over the past forty years.
Image credit: Wan-Ching Ke
About the director
Wan-Ching Ke is a Taiwanese documentary filmmaker and visual storyteller. She holds an MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and has also taught in the Department of Communication Arts and the Graduate School of Creative Arts Industries at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages. Her documentaries include The Lost Youth: Women and Industrial Work in Taiwan, A Story about the 25 Young Ladies, The Land to Live, and Nostalgia: Looking at the Migrant Aboriginal Workers.
