Documentary "My Dad is a Death Row Prisoner" premieres in Taipei. Director Li Jiahua hopes to create space for dialogue

[Reporter Liao Lihui/Taipei Report] The documentary film "My Father is a Death Row Prisoner" has been released in Taiwan. Director Li Jiahua completed the documentary "My Son is a Death Row Prisoner" in 2019, which immediately triggered in-depth discussions and attention in society on the death penalty issue. In order to expand and deepen related issues Because of the opportunity for in-depth discussions, the team filmed the new work "My Dad is a Death Row Prisoner". Through detailed life tracking, the team accompanied Zheng Yixiu and two other children of death row prisoners, and recounted the unspeakable growth experiences and how the great changes in the family affected their personalities, relationships and life choices for a long time.

"My Dad Is a Death Row" is written from the perspective of a child and sees the long aftermath of trauma. (Hope Film and Television provides)

The film held its Taipei premiere at the Guangdian Huashan Cinema on September 2. Director Li Jiahua attended the screening and shared the filming process along the way. He choked up several times when talking about the mood before the film was officially released. He admitted that he once hesitated whether to let the work be released, fearing that the issue of capital punishment is already divisive and that the film might cause more confrontation and misunderstanding; but because of this, he believed that this work must be seen.

Please read on...

Li Jiahua said: "My Dad Is a Death Row is not an attempt to give an answer, but to create a space for mutual understanding through images. It is to give different people a chance to be heard. If this film is not released, there will be one less possibility of dialogue." He also thanks the creative team and friends from all walks of life who have supported the completion of the work. He hopes that after the film is released, it can become a starting point for social dialogue, so that people from different positions are willing to enter the theater and listen to stories that have not been told for a long time.

"My Dad Is a Death Row" producer Shi Yuru (from left), director Li Jiahua, and producer Zhang Chenyu attended the premiere in Taipei. (Hope Film and Television provides)

"My Son is a Death Row Prisoner" is about understanding the background before the death penalty case from the perspective of parents, while "My Dad is a Death Row Prisoner" is from the perspective of the children, discussing the impact of the death penalty case and staring at the long aftermath of the trauma. Li Jiahua also shared: "Actually, what I wanted to photograph at the beginning were the children of the perpetrators." However, in order to protect the majority of minors at that time, I first turned to documenting the parents. After a few years, I finally completed "My Dad is a Death Row Prisoner", which also became the complete puzzle of his own mind.

"My Dad Is a Death Row" is a work about the intersection of emotion and system. The protagonist Zheng Yixiu in the film is burdened with the double trauma and label of the "victim" and "perpetrator" family members. The director then raises the most profound concerns about "people". From family trauma to public discussion, after a verdict, there are still many people who continue to live with an identity and pain that they cannot choose. The film is about to be officially released, and it also invites the audience to rethink the true function and meaning of the death penalty, and see the more complex and real weight of life beyond different standpoints.

The movie "My Dad is a Death Row" tells the story of Zheng Yixiu's father, Zheng Wusong, who killed his mother in 2002. He became a victim and a family member of the perpetrator at the same time. The death penalty has long been decided, but his father is still in prison awaiting execution. Over the years, every time a major criminal case occurs in Taiwan and the clamor for "using heavy codes in troubled times" rises, Zheng Yixiu always feels upset. The ultimate dilemma of whether a mother-killer or a close relative should die or should not die collided in his heart. This afternoon, he met two other children of death row prisoners. The three people have very different backgrounds, but they share a common life experience due to tragedy. They talk about their lives and the long-standing shadows that are difficult for outsiders to understand: their absent father and the pending death penalty.

"My Father is a Death Row Prisoner" complements the missing perspective of "My Son is a Death Row Prisoner" and stares at life outside the sentence. (Hope Film and Television provides)

Continuing the focus of the previous work "My Son is a Death Row Prisoner" on the families of the perpetrators, documentary director Li Jiahua turned his perspective to the children of the perpetrators. The details of life are meticulously followed, and conversations are used to present unspeakable common experiences, as well as how family tragedies and the lives of close relatives hanging on a thread for a long time affect their character, body and mind, and how they grow up amid struggles and pulls. Rare prison interviews show that "death row" is an oversimplified label, and that human nature and life are far more complex than a sentence. The movie will be officially released on September 4, and single poster pre-sale packages are on sale at: https://reurl.cc/MWOK5v. For the latest film information, please visit the official fan page of "My Father Is a Death Row" (www.facebook.com/mycondemnedfather.film).