Taiwanese Women Documentary Filmmakers

Admission requirements

None

Description

This course provides a critical introduction to the forms, themes, and functions of documentary films by Taiwanese women from comparative and transnational perspectives. The past three decades have witnessed the proliferation of independent films (including videos) in the Sinosphere. Significantly, a great number of filmmakers have gravitated toward documentary, rather than fiction film, as their preferred form of expression. In this course we will explore the basic premises of documentary as a transnational genre by reading documentary theory that discusses the history, aesthetics, ethics, and politics of documentary. At the same time, we will examine concepts such as women’s cinema, cine-feminism, and the female gaze in documentary film. We will view and analyze Taiwanese women’s documentaries that touch on a wide range of individual and collective identities and social issues. Discussed filmmakers include Tai-Li Hu, Zero Chou, Wei-ssu Chien, Chen-ti Kuo, Liang-yin Kuo, Wuna Wu, Chao-ti Ho, Jasmine Lee, Yu-shan Huang, Hui-chen Huang, Nien-hsiu Li, Chi Yi, Fu Yue, Laha Mebow, and others.

Course objectives

This course provides an overview of Taiwanese women documentarians’ works.

Students will develop a critical understanding of Taiwanese culture, society, and history through the issues raised by female documentarians, such as colonialism, decolonization, ethnicity, national identity, gender, sexuality, migration, modernization, and globalization.

Students will cultivate an in-depth understanding of documentary as a genre (or a mode of moving-image production) as opposed to fiction film; they will develop familiarity with diverse documentary styles, methods, and aesthetics.

They will also develop critical thinking, the ability to gather and process information working with secondary sources, as well as analytical, writing, and presentation skills.

Timetable

The timetables are available through My Timetable.

Mode of instruction

Seminar

Assessment method

Assessment and weighing

The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average of the following:

In order to pass the course, students need a passing mark (“voldoende”, i.e. “5.50” or higher) for the course as a whole AND [for a particular part].

Resit

There will be no resit for the course work, but individual submissions can compensate each other.

Inspection and feedback

How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will be organized.

Reading list

Readings will be drawn from the following books (selected chapters):
Chanan, Michael - The Politics of Documentary. London: BFI, 2007.
Chi, Pang-yuan - The Great Flowing River: A Memoir of China, from Manchuria to Taiwan. Translated by John Balcom - New York: Columbia University Press, 2018.
Chiu, Kuei-fen, and Yingjin Zhang - New Chinese-language Documentaries: Ethics, Subject and Place. London and New York: Routledge, 2015.
French, Lisa - The Female Gaze in Documentary Film. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
Lin, Sylvia Li-chun and Tze-lan D. Sang, ed - Documenting Taiwan on Film: Issues and Methods in New Documentaries. London and New York: Routledge, 2012.
Nichols, Bill Introduction to Documentary. Third edition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017.
Marchetti, Gina - Women Filmmakers and the Visual Politics of Transnational China in the #MeToo Era. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2024.
Roy, Denny - Taiwan: A Political History. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003.
Trinh, T. Minh-ha - Framer Framed: Film Scripts and Interviews. London and New York: Routledge, 1992.
Zhang, Zhen - Women Filmmakers in Sinophone World Cinema. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2023.

Registration

Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.

Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange

Information for those interested in taking this course in the context of À la carte education (without taking examinations), e.g. about costs, registration and conditions.

Information for those interested in taking this course in the context of Contract teaching (including taking examinations), e.g. about costs, registration and conditions.

Exchange students having questions regarding registration, may contact the Humanities International Office.

Contact

• For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.

• For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office Herta Mohr

Remarks

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