Secrets of 1979

86 mins | 2021 | Fiction | Mandarin & Taiwanese Hokkien | English Subtitles
North American Premiere

In the summer of 1979, Bing-kuan asked her college friend Shu-lan to help out on her family’s banana plantation. As time went by, the two girls secretly developed a romantic relationship, and later they even volunteered at the Formosa Magazine to promote freedom of expression. Yet, their budding romance was fated to be cut short, largely due to the suppression of dissidents under the martial law…

Zero CHOU is a Taiwanese director and screenwriter, famous for her aesthetical creativity and philosophical thinking. She graduated from the National Chengchi University with a bachelor degree in Philosophy.  

CHOU is a director who has dedicated her entire professional career to depicting LGBT+ relationships. Being the only Taiwanese director who is openly lesbian, her characters are thoroughly contemplated and relatively realistic. Together with her cinematographer partner, she has launched a project called RainbowAround with the idea to produce 6 films about the LGBT+ communities of different Asian cities. 

CHOU is the first Taiwanese woman to have an Oscars Academy membership.