Shen Yan

Chih-Ting and Chia-Lin, two students in Pingtung Girls’ Senior High School, are bosom friends. Their close friendship attracts jealousy from other classmates; thus rumors about them being lesbians spread. When this groundless rumor victimizes Chih-Ting and costs her best friend, it becomes too much to bear. In the 70s, the Taiwanese mainstream society regarded homosexuality as a negative variation of sexuality and imputed the cause of homosexuality to growing up in an unhealthy environment. However, the two protagonists’ friendship remains the heart of the story. Their unspoken emotional undercurrents are left for the audience to infer.

Longing. A taiwanese film directed by Kun-Hou Chen and written by Hsiao-Hsien Hou.