A Taiwanese allegorical drama on capital punishment, The Day to Choose (審判), directed by Leon Lee (李永為) and produced by Cheng Kuang-Yu (鄭匡宇), was recently accepted by the Short Film Corner in the Cannes Film Festival.
The Day to Choose, which also received a nomination in the US-based Universe Multicultural Film Festival, is about an anti-capital punishment lawyer who witnessed two men torture and murder his wife. He is presented with the choice to kill the murderers himself; call the police, which would likely result in them being sentenced to death; or let them escape unharmed.
Lee, a German-language student at Soochow University who also wrote the film’s screenplay, said he believes a philosophical question exists at the core of the controversy about capital punishment, despite its politicization, and he chose an open ending to give viewers the opportunity to form their own understanding.
Cheng, the deputy dean of the Chinese Language Center at Soochow University, said he decided to help Lee realize his dream of becoming a director after seeing a short film by Lee at the university’s film festival.
Cheng said he gave Lee NT$600,000 to make The Day to Choose, with filming taking three days and post-production three months.
Cheng said he does not believe that artistic and commercial endeavors should be mutually exclusive, and that he worked closely with Lee to develop a commercial and Hollywood-thriller plot around the premise of exploring the death penalty.
He said he had never produced a film before The Day to Choose, adding that he hopes the film’s critical success, despite the inexperience of its director and producer, would “inspire everyone to pursue their dreams.”
When asked about his plans, Lee said he wants to enroll in a film school in Germany after graduating from college to learn more about filmmaking.
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