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ARCHIVE

25th(2023)



Unmarried Mothers

LEE Mi-mi

  • Taiwan
  • 1980
  • International Premiere
  • 94min
  • DCP
  • color

International Premiere

SYNOPSIS

After her boyfriend refuses to take responsibility for her pregnancy, Hsiao-Peng jumps into the ocean out of desperation. Fortunately, she is safely rescued, and her parents arrange for her to stay in Madam Pai¡¯s maternity home for young single mothers. 

 

PROGRAM NOTE

Hsiao-Peng becomes pregnant, but her boyfriend refuses to take responsibility, leading her to attempt suicide. After being rescued, she ends up in an unmarried mothers¡¯ shelter run by Madam Pai. There, she interacts with various women who are in the shelters for many different reasons. As her due date approaches, Hsiao-Peng and the women at the shelter face decisions about their futures. Unmarried Mothers, a 1980 film by Lee Mi-mi, is part of the Taiwan Urban Women Trilogy, including Evening News and Girls¡¯ School (1982), screened at SIWFF last year. Although Unmarried Mothers does not explicitly deal with queer themes like Girls¡¯ School, it shares the common theme of portraying women¡¯s community stories that address serious social issues within the framework of melodrama. The film¡¯s main subject is unwed pregnancy. While it provides a relatively safe romantic and happy ending for the protagonist, the film examines the multiple oppressions young women face in 20th-century East Asian society. Unlike many melodramas of its time, Hsiao-Peng and her friends do not fall into unnecessary sentimentality and guilt but instead choose their paths independently. [Djuna]

Director

  • LEE Mi-miLEE Mi-mi

    Mi-Mi Lee made her directorial debut in 1972 with Pure Love after working in the industry for years. She continued to self-produce three features in the early 1980s, dubbed as the ¡°Taiwanese Urban Female Trilogy¡±. She was highly involved in the creation of the script and worked behind the camera. 

     

Credit

  • ProducerMA Hen-ing
  • Cast KUEI Ya-lei, LUNG Jinner, HUA Fang, CHANG Ying-chen, LIANG Hsiu-shen
  • Screenwriter CHIU Kan-Chein, SHUN Tsoon-hwa, LIU Jessey
  • Cinematography LIN Jyh-Jung
  • Editor LIN Shan-liang