Liberty Times (LT): How have you dealt with the controversy over the past few weeks over the screening of the documentary The 10 Conditions of Love?
Cheng Wen-tang (鄭文堂): The question of whether we will be able to show the film at the festival has worried me and made me want to stage a protest. I kept asking myself how I, as a creative artist, should deal with this interference in the freedom of expression. I kept seeing Jean-Luc Godard before my eyes.
LT: Are you referring to 1968? [In 1968, French police suppressed student protests and Godard condemned filmmakers for not being united and for not showing the treatment of workers and students in their work. Godard and Francois Truffaut then launched a protest, demanding that French films and filmmakers withdraw from the Cannes Film Festival.]
Cheng: That’s right. That kind of sad anger is very similar. Godard stormed up on stage and tore down the film posters and declared that the Cannes Film Festival was over. That is the active mindset of a revolutionary, and it has always been something I respect and admire. Although the Kaohsiung Film Festival is a small event that cannot be compared to Cannes, the emotion is similar. If 10 Conditions was really dropped from the festival, all our efforts to democratize Taiwan over the past 20 years will be undone, and I could no longer be a filmmaker following my own conscience in telling the truth.
LT: What would you do if the film couldn’t be shown at the festival?
Cheng: I’d have walked away.
LT: Would you resign as president?
Cheng: Yes. The whole thing was preposterous. If we were to remove the film because of political interference, we would not only hurt the film, but everyone would be affected. Even a short film, once it’s completed and has been invited [to a festival], should be treated fairly and with respect, everywhere. This may seem politically naive, but from a cultural perspective, this is the attitude we must adopt. I can understand the massive pressure on the [Kaohsiung] city government, but it cannot abandon such fundamental values and beliefs under pressure.
LT: Could you describe these beliefs in more detail?
Cheng: Simply put, it would mean that we will lose our right to creative freedom. The 10 Conditions of Love is simply a biopic about a controversial individual that a documentary filmmaker has spent seven years documenting. On the surface, it would only be a decision to remove it from the festival as a result of political interference, but the practical effect would be that no one will dare challenge taboos. Artists who are worried that they they will not be supported by certain political groups would begin to limit themselves and would not dare to touch topics that they wanted to or should work on. Who would dare follow a more dangerous path? It would be like it was during the censorship era. Who dared make a film about the Kaohsiung Incident or Lei Chen (雷震)? Reality is cruel, and once reality forces artists to become “pragmatic” and they start compromising because they are afraid of or unwilling to do what they should do, what will we be left with?
LT: How was it initially decided to screen The 10 Conditions of Love?
Cheng: I’ve been president of the Kaohsiung Film Festival for five years, and all I want to do is make more people watch movies, create some more movie fans. The premise for a successful festival is that we have good and unique movies and with our limited budget, try to come up with films that would be shown in Kaohsiung for the first time, or a world premiere.
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