White Terror thriller screened at Sweden's Lund University on 228

Stockholm, March 1 (CNA) Organizers of the Taiwan International Democratic Film Festival (TIDFF) on Friday, 228 Memorial Day, screened a movie about Taiwan's White Terror era of political repression at Sweden's Lund University.

The TIDFF put on "Detention" (返校), a 2019 fantasy horror film set in the 1960s.

Based on the 2017 Taiwanese game of the same name, the period piece uses horror and fantasy elements to tackle Taiwan's White Terror era during which people seen as political dissenters or threats to the authoritarian Kuomintang regime were violently repressed.

In the film set during the White Terror period, a high school girl wakes up in her classroom alone after school.

As she searches for her teacher, she is confronted by demonic spirits and finds that she is trapped in the school with a fellow student before she is forced to come face to face with demons of her own related to the era she lives in.

As Taiwan's White Terror period, which began with the imposition of martial law in 1949, has been seen by some as the negative political aftermath of Taiwan's February 28 Incident of 1947, the TIDFF showcased the film on 228 Memorial Day at the school.

Speaking with CNA, event attendees such as Linn Alexandersson said she found the movie very intriguing.

Alexandersson said she had only been aware of the colonial histories of China and Japan before the movie and was not aware of the internal civil conflict that existed on Taiwan.

With "Detention" providing a visual depiction of the dark side of Taiwan's history, event attendees such as Alexandersson said it made them want to learn more about the island's history.

Li Yu-tung (李禹彤), a Taiwanese student at Lund University who helped organize the screening with the university's Centre for Languages and Literature, Taiwan's mission in Sweden and the Taiwan Association in Sweden, said she began to value Taiwan's democracy after living abroad.

Following the viewing of the horror fantasy, the TIDFF held a post-screening discussion with the university's Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies senior lecturer Jinyan Zeng (曾金燕) and Lin Fang-ru (林芳如) of Cosmopolitan Culture Action Taichung.

Several questions were raised during the discussion, such as whether or not a commercial movie like "Detention" could effectively explain a historical incident.

In response, Lin said she believed works like Detention could cultivate more audience interest in history.

Organizers also provided information on the 228 Incident to any event attendees who were interested.

Besides TIDFF's screening of the movie in Sweden, "Detention" was also shown on Friday in Paris in observation of the 228 Incident.

The Formosa Association in France screened the movie at the Forum des Images and also organized a subsequent post-viewing forum.

Speaking at the event, Taiwan's representative to France Hao Pei-chih (郝培芝) also spoke about the 228 Incident, stating that the movie not only reflected the ripple effects of the massacre, it also echoed the nation's struggles to achieve freedom.