Director Winson Chang’s (張志宏) latest short film aims to raise awareness of the importance of seeking counseling and professional help when dealing with family conflicts and domestic violence.
In Accompany You Home (陪你回家), which premiered on Monday last week, Chang — who has a counseling background — recounts the real-life stories of two men, surnamed Ou (歐) and Chin (金), who sought help at the White Ribbon Anti-violence Learning Center in New Taipei City.
Ou had been taking care of his sister, who has cerebral palsy, since he was in elementary school. With with no one else to share the responsibility as the siblings grow older, he realized that he had neglected his own family as he cared for his sister.
Photo courtesy of Winson Chang
Filled with guilt, Ou tells how at one point he had become so frustrated that he thought about ending his sister’s life.
Chin’s story is one of how marital conflicts led to domestic violence and divorce.
With the help of the center’s professionals, Ou learned how to relieve stress and Chin is now able to peacefully interact with his ex-wife. He also resumed his hobby of playing the harmonica and became a beach cleanup volunteer.
It has been 20 years since the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (家庭暴力防治法) was enacted, said Hsu Chih-chi (許芝綺), the director of New Taipei City’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Center.
Awareness of domestic violence and emergency services is improving daily, she said.
In 2011, the city government commissioned the Shiuh-li Cultural and Educational Foundation to establish the White Ribbon center, she said.
She hopes Chang’s film can help change stereotypes about domestic violence and encourage abusers to accept help.
Society needs more listeners. so that those under pressure have channels to relieve their stress, New Taipei City Social Welfare Department Commissioner Chang Ching-li (張錦麗) said.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A series of discussions on the legacy of martial law and authoritarianism are to be held at the Taipei International Book Exhibition this month, featuring findings and analysis by the Transitional Justice Commission. The commission and publisher Book Republic organized the series, entitled “Escaping the Nation’s Labyrinth of Memory: What Authoritarian Symbols and Records Can Tell Us,” to help people navigate narratives through textual analysis and comparisons with other nations. The four-day series is to begin on Thursday next week with a discussion between commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Polish-language translator Lin Wei-yun (林蔚昀), and Polish author and artist Pawel Gorecki comparing
MOVING OUT: A former professor said that rent and early education costs in Taipei are the nation’s highest, which makes it difficult for young people to start families The population of Taipei last year fell to the lowest in 23 years due to high rent, more transportation options and the expansion of northern cities into a single metropolis, academics and city officials said on Monday. Data released this month by the Ministry of the Interior showed that the capital was home to 2,602,418 people last year, down 42,623 from 2019. The decline is second only to 1993, when the population fell by 42,828 people, while Taipei’s population was the lowest it has been since 1997. Taipei saw the biggest drop among the six special municipalities, while Taoyuan led the group in
A legislator yesterday called for authorities to investigate the sale of Chinese-made, Internet-connected karaoke machines containing “propaganda songs.” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said she was approached by a person who had discovered Chinese patriotic songs such as My Motherland (我的祖國) — which is commonly referred to as China’s “second national anthem” — in Chinese-made karaoke devices sold in Taiwan. The machines are popular, as they can connect to the Internet, providing access to thousands of songs, she said. One retailer, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the machines first entered the local market about three years ago, starting with