In this episode of Talkin TIDF, Cameron and Stefanie speak with LEE Daw-ming, an award-winning filmmaker, scholar, and one of the most influential figures in documentary filmmaking in Taiwan. After studying in the United States, he returned in the early 1980s and played a key role in shaping the field’s development.

At TIDF 2026, the Reel Taiwan section, The Late 1980s on Film, presents four of his digitally restored works. In this conversation, Professor LEE reflects on how documentary in Taiwan evolved alongside technological change and the island’s transition out of martial law.

🎙️In this episode:

➤ What shaped documentary filmmaking in Taiwan in the 1960s and 1970s—and which international works influenced a generation?
➤ Why did 1985 become a “scandalous” year in Taiwan’s documentary history?
➤ How was Beyond the Killing Fields: Refugees at the Thai-Cambodian Border made, and how did synch sound transform documentary practice?
➤ What is your position on ethnographic filmmaking—and how do you view the Sensory Ethnographic Lab?
➤ What was it like to revisit and restore your films for Reel Taiwan?

🔗 Links & Show Notes

• TIDF 2026: Reel Taiwan｜The Late 1980s on Film
  https://www.tidf.org.tw/en/films/157633
• TIDF 2026: FOCUS programme｜“Sensible but Unsayable—A Retrospective of the Sensory Ethnography Lab”: https://www.tidf.org.tw/en/category/shows2026/
• LEE Daw-Ming Filmography: https://docs.tfai.org.tw/en/filmmakers/1864
• The Journey of Taiwan Cinema: from Taiwan New Cinema to post-New Cinema by LEE Daw-Ming (October 2018) : https://taiwaninsight.org/2018/10/31/the-journey-of-taiwan-cinema-from-taiwan-new-cinema-to-post-new-cinema/
• Taiwan Today, Taiwan Review “Voice of the People” (Sept 1996): https://taiwantoday.tw/AMP/Culture/Taiwan-Review/25093/Voice-of-the-People

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