This selection attempts to re-examine how the idea of “the personal is political” was realised through documentaries from 1990s onward, when female filmmakers in Taiwan started to tell their stories through “personal cinema”. These works contemplate on the idea of body, desire, emotion and family, unveiling various types of restraints imposed on women by the society. Avoiding Vision explores and displays people's contempt towards their own bodies due to societal beauty norms, questioning the values of aesthetics. Hard Good Life 2 intimately traces the final years of a father's life, offering a simple yet powerful father-daughter portrait. The River illustrates the physical and emotional pain of pregnancy through images of flowing water and the female body.

1. Avoiding Vision

Kite Chen / 2010

2. Hard Good Life 2

Hsu Hui-ju / 2008

3. The River

Hsu Ya-ting, Geoffrey Hughes / 2016