Film screening of "Girls' school" 女子學校

As part of the 2025 SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies Summer School, we are delighted to screen Girls’ School, a groundbreaking yet often overlooked work by one of Taiwan’s early female directors, LEE Mi-mi.

The film follows Chih-ting and Chia-lin, two inseparable best friends at an all-girls high school. When rumours begin to circulate about the true nature of their relationship, they are suddenly confronted by social scrutiny—from classmates, teachers, and family. As the boundaries of friendship and intimacy are questioned, the two girls are forced to navigate a world that lacks the language or space for their bond.

Completed in the 1980s, a time when homosexuality was highly stigmatised in Taiwan, Girls’ School stands out as a rare cinematic portrayal of queer female experience. It is the final chapter of LEE Mi-mi’s “Taiwanese Urban Women Trilogy,” and the only one to centre explicitly on queer themes. The film reflects the conservative social values of its era while also challenging dominant narratives about gender, youth, and family.

A quiet but powerful work, Girls’ School offers a moving look into the unspoken complexities of girlhood and same-sex intimacy in a changing Taiwan.

The SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies would like to thank TaiwanPlus and Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute for granting the rights of screening.

(image credit: LEE Mi-mi via Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute)