Talking Taiwan: Christina Hu Talks About Documentary Filmmaking and her Blacklist Short Film Series

October 4, 2021 Felicia Lin

I recently interviewed Christina Hu, the Director of the Write in Taiwanese Census Campaign about the Pew Research report on Asian communities which misrepresented the Taiwanese. For months Christina and the Write in Taiwanese Census Campaign team worked with Pew Research to get an official response issued. After several months of communications, Pew reissued the report in question on September 8 with the categories of “Chinese, with Taiwanese,” “Taiwanese,” and “Chinese, except Taiwanese.” When I spoke with Christina in episode 148, she briefly mentioned her documentary filmmaking, so I thought now would be a good time to share an interview that I did with her back in 2018.

In 2018, I spoke with Christina about her documentary filmmaking. Her films have focused on presenting history through personal perspectives. She talked about her first film and her love of history. Christina’s films about Taiwan have covered topics like the blacklist and the historic ruling by Taiwan’s High Court that has paved the way for the legalization of same sex marriage.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

How she got started making documentary films
Where the term “blacklist” came from
The Blacklist Workshop (aka Blacklist Studio)
Her Blacklist Film Series
What is the blacklist?
Her first documentary film, Her Journey
The gap year (in 1999) she spent in Germany in between high school and college
When she was in third grade in Taiwan and was disciplined at school for saying that her family was from the province of Taiwan instead of Fujian
How she observed the Tiananmen Square massacre in Taiwan
The films that she has made about Taiwan
How her interest in the history of Taiwan has motivated her filmmaking
The challenge of telling the story of Taiwan through film
Her documentary film about Taiwanese Canadian Columbus Leo

LISTEN to Episode 151: Christina Hu Talks About Documentary Filmmaking and her Blacklist Short Film Series HERE

LISTEN to Talking Taiwan on your preferred podcasting platform!

Apple Podcasts: Click HERE to Listen

Spotify: Click HERE to Listen

Stitcher: Click HERE to Listen

Google Podcasts: Click HERE to Listen

iHeartRADIO: Click HERE to Listen

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in the podcast:

Related Links:

LISTEN to Episode 151: Christina Hu Talks About Documentary Filmmaking and her Blacklist Short Film Series HERE