Film Screening of "On Happiness Road" (幸福路上) and Q&A with Sylvia Feng (馮賢賢)

Sylvia Feng (馮賢賢)

As this event is part of our SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies Summer School, we kindly ask that you register for this event

Synopsis

Chi earned her American dream after persevering with her studies in Taiwan. Following her grandmother’s death Chi returns to her family on Happiness Road, where she begins to feel nostalgic about her childhood and starts to contemplate the meaning of “life and “home”. What is happiness? Will Chi find her own happiness?

Director's Statement

How a little girl becomes an adult? I’ve always considered making a film about a little Taiwanese girls life in the 80’s. It’s looked back on as ‘a period of happiness and prosperity’ to Taiwanese people. Adults were busy at work all day making money, believing that hard work would lead to wealth. Due to the education at school the children thought that people in mainland China fed themselves banana skins, but they had no doubt about who ate the bananas. Also, a little girl believes in the fairytale happy ending of Princess Snow White. This piece of history is too funny to be true, but it is true, I think it would be a good story for a comedy, especially as an animation. One day when a little girl starts to doubt where the bananas go and the reality of happy endings, she grows.

Speaker Biography

Sylvia Feng is a media specialist with over 35 years of experience in radio and television production and management. She was a leading advocate of Public Media in Taiwan and spearheaded efforts resulting in the passage of Taiwan’s Public Television Act in 1997. As senior manager, producer and president of Public TV, she pursued quality journalism, creative expressions and cultural diversity by initiating PTS daily news, documentary programs and bolder drama productions.

She also promoted rights of ethnic minorities and helped launch Indigenous TV and Hakka TV in Taiwan. Since her forced exit from Public TV in 2010 due to political interference, she has produced animated shorts on the internet and published articles on media policy. She is currently producing the first political drama series in Taiwan.

Ms. Feng also helped the DPP form its communications policy in 2012 & 2016, and was chief editor of President Tsai Ying-Wen’s Culture Policy Paper in 2016.

Organiser: SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies

Contact email: ml156@soas.ac.uk