Film Festival Highlights Debate over Death Penalty in Taiwan

The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) is hosting its fifth Murder by Numbers Film Festival this month to raise public awareness on the death penalty in Taiwan and encourage people to reflect on the subject through a series of documentaries and drama films.

The title for this year’s festival is “Made in Taiwan, Killed in Taiwan.” The TAEDP describes the death penalty as an “assembly line,” in which the nation and the media are responsible for creating “notorious criminals,” depriving them of their civil rights, and ultimately executing them “in the name of the nation and justice.”

Aside from screening movies, speakers, such as National Taiwan University law professor Lee Mao-sheng (李茂生), will discuss the films with the audience.

Seventeen films will be shown during the festival, including the Taiwanese productions “Cheng Hsing Tze’s 48 Hours (鄭性澤的48小時)” and “Fight for Justice (進擊之路),” as well as western films including “Nightcrawler” and “We Need To Talk About Kevin.”

The festival will be held Oct. 10-26 in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung.
The screening schedule and additional information can be found here.

First Editor: Edward White
Second Editor: J. Michael Cole