Today, Taiwan is a flourishing democracy. However, this freedom hasn’t been free, and Pittsburgh has been home for some of the freedom fighters and human rights defenders.
Dr. Wen-Chen Chen was a Taiwanese freedom fighter and an assistant professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
In 1981, he died at the age of 31 in an alleged extrajudicial killing for his fundraising and mobilization activities in the United States to support freedom of speech, freedom of association, and democracy in Taiwan.
KITA has launched a documentary-style community story-telling project about Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans around Dr. Chen’s time.
We seek to illustrate how state oppression, transnational surveillance, and intergenerational trauma showed up in their past and affected their journey.
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interview and film
Conduct research. Interview community members from Pittsburgh who now live in at least 6 cities. Collect oral history to ensure we preserve the stories of seniors in our community in an equitable and horizontal fashion.
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film editing
Transcribe interviews that will mostly be in Taiwanese and some Mandarin. Assemble the story in post-production. Create a documentary-style film.
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music, grade, and sound design
Color grade, music composition, sound design, translation, and subtitles.
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oral history digital archive
Create a digital archive of interview films. The oral history will live on as an intangible cultural heritage that compliments official records or textbook history where everyday people’s stories are often omitted.
Make a Donation
You can also make checks payable to “KITA Foundation” and mail to PO Box 5241, Bloomington, IN 47407