Here's a film project that could use your help... It's the final fundraising stretch for Love Boat: Taiwan, a documentary that looks at the allure of the Taiwan Love Boat, one of the longest running summer programs in the world, where young Taiwanese Americans get closer to their history, their culture and each other.
In the late 1960s, Taiwan's government established the Study Tour to Taiwan as an outreach program to college-aged Taiwanese Americans and Chinese Americans, to increase their awareness and support for Taiwan. Since then, young people from all over the world have attended this program.
Although it was advertised as a cultural enrichment program -- Mandarin language, martial arts, brush painting, etc. -- the Study Tour's popularity came from another source: its (somewhat notorious) reputation as an excellent place to find romance. Thus earning its more widely known nickname: Taiwan Love Boat.
Director Valerie Soe, who attended the Taiwan Love Boat as a college student in the 1980s, has been working on a documentary chronicling this important part of our community's history.
With aims to release the film in 2019, Valerie has shot dozens of interviews with Love Boat alumni -- including, notably, Congresswoman Judy Chu, who attended the program in the 1970s -- parents, organizers, and counselors, as well as people on the street in Taiwan such as disco owners, shopkeepers, and food stall vendors who casually ran into the Love Boat's denizens every summer.
Fun fact: there is no actual boat.
The goal is to raise $20,000 by November 15 to cover the film's postproduction costs. Your donation could go a long way towards helping Valerie and her team bring this story to the screen.
For more information about the film, and to make a pledge, head over to Indiegogo.
