On the road, we are all explorers constantly embarking on adventures, and the road is full of challenges—especially traffic safety issues surrounding traffic accidents and pedestrian hell.

In this lecture, we will use professional legal knowledge as our guide to explore the realm of traffic safety. Through the mysteries of traffic accidents, we will understand various hazard causes and learn preventive measures through case analysis.

For the first "Szu-Szu into TALK" lecture of 2024, we have invited Attorney Lin Tzu-cheng to untangle the issues pedestrians and drivers encounter from a lawyer's perspective! Everyone is welcome to sign up and participate!

Speaker

Lin Tzu-cheng Attorney, Der-Lin Chien-Hsu Law Firm; Standing Executive Committee Member, JRF

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• Time: January 26 (Fri) 19:00-20:30
• Location: JRF Taichung Office
  Online/In-person participation available. In-person seating is limited to 30 people; waitlisted participants will be sent a livestream link.

Ended. Go to event record

★ Official Selection, 2021 Taipei Film Festival - International New Talent Competition
★ Window on Asia, 2021 Busan International Film Festival
★ San Diego Asian Film Festival 2021
★ Competition Film, 2022 Osaka Asian Film Festival

In the turbulent 1990s, Wen-hui (played by Nguyễn An-Nê), a Vietnamese woman, marries far away to a prosperous Taiwan, only to find that her husband's family lives in a desolate and crude brick house. When Wen-hui contemplates opening a business, her mother-in-law (played by Chen Shu-fang) hints that continuing the family line is a woman's destined duty; her husband Chung-ming (played by Chiang Chang-chiang), a construction worker, tries to expand their home in exchange for peace. Little do they expect that social upheavals outside are swallowing their aspirations, and Wen-hui's married life begins to spin out of control...

In urban Taiwan after the millennium, a mysterious Vietnamese woman named Pei Chiu-lan (played by Nguyễn Thu-Hằng), who works as a detective agency operative, discovers her own ideals in Wen-hui's story and sets out to trace Wen-hui's past. Along her journey, she unexpectedly encounters people, events, and objects that are as magical as phantoms yet carry a sense of deja vu... Can these female new residents across two different time and space dimensions gain a new lease on life? Can they live out true freedom together with the locals?

"Genshin: The Wandering Age" tells an intersecting life epic of new residents and local Taiwanese through two contrasting stories that are both realistic and magical! The film blends Vietnamese, Taiwanese Hokkien, and Mandarin dialogue, using a long-take visual style to portray the process of ordinary people and the macro-environment changing together. Not only does it lift the veil on Taiwan's social conditions from the late 1990s to the present through the perspective of female new residents for the first time, but it also reveals how different ethnic generations, labor classes, and transnational marriage families in Taiwan once shaped this island nation seeking diverse integration amidst the expectations and dilemmas of globalization and democratization...

▍Runtime: 148 minutes
▍"Genshin: The Wandering Age" Taiwan Official Trailer
▍Partner Organization: Kuang Yuan Ti Art Production Co., Ltd.

Speaker

Chang Teng-yuan Director of the film. Graduate of the Department of Radio, Television and Film at Shih Hsin University and completed the 3rd Golden Horse Film Academy. Skilled at creating visual narratives through long takes, his recent work spans film, video art, and independent curation responding to social observations, with a focus on the social relations of new immigrants in Taiwan.

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• Time: February 23 (Fri) 18:00-22:00
  18:00-20:30 Film Screening
  20:30-22:00 Post-Screening Discussion
• Location: JRF Taichung Office
  In-person attendance only, limited to 40 people. Overflow will be placed on a waitlist.

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Hong Kong human rights activist and lawyer Chow Hang-tung, former vice-chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was sentenced to 15 months in prison on June 4, 2021, for promoting and calling on others online to participate in the June 4 vigil. Later, she was additionally charged with "inciting subversion of state power" alongside Alliance Chairman Lee Cheuk-yan and Vice-Chairman Albert Ho, and has been held in pretrial detention for nearly two and a half years.

"When the exercise of power is founded on lies, as human beings, we have no choice but to disobey." Representing herself, Lawyer Chow Hang-tung chose to plead not guilty amidst numerous criminal charges. Not only did she argue based on reason, but she also fought for every single statement made in court...

The British organization The 29 Principles and the Judicial Reform Foundation in Taiwan are jointly organizing this documentary screening, inviting concerned friends to watch Hang-tung's story together, understand the context of the issue, and comprehend this arduous yet undeniable democratic movement that cannot be abandoned.

▍Runtime: 104 minutes
▍Partner Organization: The 29 Principles

 

Panelist

A Representative of The 29 Principles

Panelist

Tsai Meng-han Managing Attorney, Hong-Hsiang Law Firm

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• Time: April 26 (Fri) 19:00-21:30
  19:00-20:30 Film Screening
  20:40-21:30 Post-Screening Discussion
• Location: JRF Taichung Office
  In-person attendance only, limited to 40 people. Overflow will be placed on a waitlist.

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The occurrence of major criminal cases brings indelible pain to victims and their families, while also acting as a sharp blade tearing open social scars and polarization. The issue of the abolition or retention of the death penalty often follows closely behind, with both sides holding their respective supporting stances and values.

On April 23, 2024, the Constitutional Court held oral arguments for 37 death penalty cases, including 111-Hsuan-Min-Tzu No. 904052 initiated by Wang Hsin-fu's petition. The Grand Justices will issue a ruling within 3 months (extendable by 2 months if necessary).

This lecture invites Attorney Tsai Meng-han, a senior editor at Taiwan Law Express (Legal Easy), to discuss the content of the Constitutional Court arguments with us. Focusing on themes such as argumentative issues, the values of retaining or abolishing the death penalty, and the scope of state power, we cordially invite you to participate and welcome you to raise questions at the end of the lecture to approach the death penalty together with us.

 

Speaker

Tsai Meng-han Managing Attorney, Hong-Hsiang Law Firm; Senior Editor, Taiwan Law Express (Legal Easy)

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• Time: July 31 (Wed) 19:00-20:30
• Location: JRF Taichung Office
  In-person attendance only, limited to 40 people. Overflow will be placed on a waitlist.

Discussion ended. Go to event record

In 1997, the Taipei City Government abruptly abolished the "Regulations Governing Prostitution in Taipei City." Overnight, 128 licensed sex workers who lost their legal right to work were forced to take to the streets to fight for a two-year grace period. Their courageous appearance allowed Taiwanese society to begin understanding this group of "chen-shih-cha-bo" (working women): Who were they? Why did they need this job?

Regarding Pai-lan, what we know is limited. During the protests, she was one of the few women who did not mask her face. Organizers assisting with the protests described her as content with simplicity, feeding stray cats in the alley behind the brothel after taking in only two or three clients a day. Other women in the shop said that even when they could barely afford to feed themselves, she fed those cats so well.

In 2005, Pai-lan suddenly collapsed...

The turbulent hardships of life after the abolition of licensed prostitution, along with the stigma and pain of sex work, were gradually pieced together through the process of everyone accompanying Pai-lan in her recovery. Through delicate camera work and archival footage from different periods, the film not only presents the merciless crushing of individuals by policies and politics, but also witnesses the tender care between humans and humans, as well as humans and cats.

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27 years ago, the Taipei City Government issued the ban abolishing licensed prostitution on September 4, 1997, and enforced it on September 6. Flaws in the policy and its hasty implementation triggered a strong backlash from labor circles, cultural circles, academia, university student associations, and organizations such as the Asia-Pacific Sex Worker Rights Advocates. Now, through director Tsai Yen-shan's documentary, we are shown the arduous survival process of these women in the past. The director once said: "In this age of image inflation, going back to re-edit DV footage from over a decade ago with a resolution of only 720x480 is not about my present self rejecting my past self, but rather about taking my own regrets seriously and trying to make a corresponding effort to treat what was captured properly. To me, 'Lauchabo' is both a cat and a person—besides being the cat's name, it also refers to these women called working women. May some moments about them be remembered."

Lauchabo
2023 | Taiwan | Documentary | Color | 69 minutes | DCP
★ 2024 Taiwan International Documentary Festival - Taiwan Competition
★ 2023 Taiwan International Women's Film Festival
"Lauchabo" Trailer

Speaker

Tsai Yen-shan Director of the film.
Graduate of the Department of Sociology at National Taiwan University and the MFA Program in Media Arts Production at Brooklyn College, City University of New York. Formerly a film assistant director, documentary planner, and producer. Currently works exclusively in film editing.

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• Time: September 6 (Fri) 19:00-21:00
• Location: JRF Taichung Office
  In-person attendance only, limited to 30 people. Overflow will be placed on a waitlist.

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