An Evening with Director Ke Chin-Yuan featuring screenings of BLACK and TAKE MY BREATH AWAY

About the Films

 

 

Black documents the cycle of water pollution and its consequences on the environment, the local ecosystem, and the communities that are exposed to the water and food grown from contaminated crops. The contamination begins when wastewater from factories is introduced to waterways that are used for crop irrigation. The compromised water supply taints the soil in which rice is grown with dangerous levels of cadmium, chromium and toxic chemicals that then enter Taiwan's national diet. The dangerous levels of these chemicals is even more of a problem for the farmers that come into close contact with the greatest concentration of these chemicals each day. Can the public rely on the safety of Taiwan’s food, water and environment?

 

 

Take My Breath Away investigates air pollution from the petrochemical industry and undocumented factories in Taiwan and abroad. It details the problems and struggles the Taiwanese people face and the lengths they must go to in order to overcome the effect pollution has in their daily lives. If we want to breathe clean air and sustain the environment for future generations, change needs to happen now.

 

About the Guests

 

 

Ke Chin-Yuan was born and raised in Shenkang Township, Changhua County, a coastal village, where a clear stream ran in front of his home. Villagers would use the water for laundry, baths, catching fish and shrimp, and irrigation. Unfortunately, heavy industry has taken its toll, resulting in dried farmland, polluted air, and industrial waste contaminating the once clean stream.

 

In the face of environmental injustices, Ke began to advocate for vulnerable communities using the power of his lens. Since 1980 he has been recording and presenting stories of Taiwanese people and ecology. He has also visited jungles, polar regions and countless mountains and islets all over the world. In over 32 years as a photographer and filmmaker, he has produced 20 documentaries, 400 plus feature reports, over 200,000 images and text files of fieldwork on Taiwan's environment, and has participated in the production of more than 200 program episodes on environmental issues.

 

Ke has received many awards in Taiwan and internationally, including at the Golden Bell Awards – the most prestigious award for TV programs in Taiwan – for Best Photography and Best Non-drama Director, the Green Film Festival in Seoul for Environmental Films, and the International Wildlife Film Festival for Best TV Program (Budget under US$250,000) and Best Point of View.

 

 

Stanley Rosen is Professor of Political Science at USC specializing in Chinese politics and society. He is also the Faculty Master of University Residential College at Birnkrant, which is an honors college for USC’s best incoming students. Rosen has been living on campus for 26 years as a resident faculty member. He studied Chinese in Taiwan and Hong Kong and has traveled to mainland China over 50 times in the last 34 years. His courses range from Chinese politics and Chinese film to political change in Asia, East Asian societies, comparative politics, and politics and film in comparative perspective. The author or editor of eight books and many articles, he has written on such topics as the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese legal system, public opinion, youth, gender, human rights, Sino-American relations, and film and the media. He is the co-editor of Chinese Education and Society and a frequent guest editor of other translation journals. His most recent books include Chinese Politics: State, Society and the Market [2010] (co-edited with Peter Hays Gries) and Art, Politics and Commerce in Chinese Cinema [2010] (co-edited with Ying Zhu).

 

Ongoing projects include a study of the changing attitudes and behavior of Chinese youth, and a study of Hollywood films in China and the prospects for Chinese films on the international market, particularly in the United States. In addition to his academic activities at USC, Professor Rosen has escorted twelve delegations to China for the National Committee on US-China Relations (including American university presidents, professional associations, and Fulbright groups). He is an affiliated research scholar at Beijing Normal University’s Research Institute for Chinese Culture and International Communications and a member of the international advisory board of Shanghai University’s Center for Media Studies and the Humanities Studies Center of Zhongshan University (Taiwan). He has consulted for the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, the United States Information Agency, the Los Angeles Public Defenders Office and a number of private corporations, law firms and U.S. government agencies.