From April 3-19, TECO is hosting a Taiwanese film series called “HerStory: Women in Taiwanese Film”. The series will feature five films which depict different female roles in Taiwan from the 1980s to present day, highlighting the social and cultural development of females over the past three decades. The leading actresses in all of the films are famous and representative of their time, including Bridget Lin and Maggie Cheung (Red Dust), Hui-san Yang (Kuei-mei, a Woman) and Sylvia Chang (My Favorite Season).

Kuei-mei, a Woman（我這樣過了一生）1986, 116mins
Director: CHANG Yi（張毅）
Cast: YANG Hui-san（楊惠姍）
Date and time:
April 3（Tuesday）19:00-21:00 By Invitation Only
April 24（Tuesday）19:00-21:00
This melodrama tells the story of a woman’s never-ending struggle to keep her and her family fed and clothed. Obeying her father’s wishes, Kuei-mei leaves her home and a lover in mainland China to go live in Taiwan. Once there, she is forced into a marriage of convenience with a self-pitying widower who is the father of three children. Accepting her lot as unalterable, she makes the best of her situation even when her husband loses his job. Throughout heart-wrenching difficulties that take them from Taiwan to Japan and back again, Kuei-mei is a pillar of strength.

Spring Swallow（晚春情事）1989, 103mins
Director: Richard Yao-chi CHEN（陳耀圻）
Cast: Hsiao-Fen LU（陸小芬）
Date and time: April 10（Tuesday）18:00-20:00
Chuen Yen is a newly-widowed farm girl. According to her mother’s arrangement, she remarries Mr. Chiang, a local officer’s son. Despite Chuen Yen’s purity and simplicity, she is unable to adjust to the new marriage and often complains about being neglected. She falls in love with her young neighbor and they planned to run away. When her husband discovers this, he uses his high-ranking friends’ clout to force the young man to leave. Chuen Yen is then bitterly beaten and locked up. Chuen Yen spends 3 months in a dark room and gradually learns to accept the life imposed on her by her husband. She learns to disguise her inner turmoil with an outwardly charming appearance, although her rebellious spirit and uneasiness sometimes unconsciously show through in the glimmer of her eyes.

Red Dust（滾滾紅塵）1990, 94mins
Director: YIM Ho（嚴浩）
Cast: Brigitte LIN（林青霞）, CHIN Han（秦漢）,
Maggie CHEUNG（張曼玉）
Date and time: April 12（Thursday）18:00-20:00
Set against the backdrop of the Sino-Japanese War of the 1930s, the Japanese surrender of WWII in 1945, and the subsequent onslaught of Communism, this film tells the story of an ill-fated romance between a talented lady novelist and a Chinese traitor working with the Japanese who fall victim to the mayhem of war and their tragic inability to reconcile their political differences.

My Favorite Season（最想念的季節）1985, 100mins
Director: Kun-ho CHEN（陳坤厚）
Cast: Sylvia CHANG（張艾嘉）, Jonathan LEE（李宗盛）
Date and time: April 17（Tuesday）18:00-20:00
Bi Bao-liang is a 29 year-old man who believes that he will have bad luck if he touches a woman before he turns thirty. Liu Xiang-mei is a beautiful woman who had a love affair with her married boss, and is now pregnant. In order to give her child a family name, she decides to find a man with whom she can enter into a one-year marriage contract. Bi Bao-Liang is the perfect candidate because he is afraid of women. However, there are unforeseen developments and their marriage does not go according to plan…

Yang Yang（陽陽）2009, 110mins
Director: Yu-chieh CHENG（鄭有傑）
Cast: Yung-yung CHANG（張榕容）
Date and time: April 19（Thursday）18:00-20: 00
“So, you speak French?” is a question Yang-Yang has frequently fielded since she was young. Although she always responds with a smile, she can’t help but feel awkward since she has never met her French father and doesn’t speak the language. She yearns for a stable family and her dream appears to come true when her mother remarries. However, her new family proves disappointing, and not even a temporary fling can ease her loneliness. In her pursuit of genuine intimacy and love, Yang-Yang is unexpectedly betrayed, leaving her no choice but to run away from her home and mother. Nine months later, she manages to become an actress by using her Eurasian features to land roles, but, against her wishes, she is often cast as “French”. How will she face the heartbreak of family, friendship, and romantic love?