Film Screening:

My Fancy High Heels
(Ho Chao-ti, 2010, 56 min, Taiwan, Mandarin & English w/ English subtitles)

Filmed over a period of 2 years, this documentary traces the steps of a pair of name-brand high-heeled shoes, from the border of China & Russia to the streets of Manhattan, from an impoverished farm town and the sanguinary spectacle of slaughtered cows and skinned hides, to the fashionable, prosperous metropolis. From procuring the leather, to the assembly line, to the contract manufacturer, to the moment when lily-white feet slip into each pair of high heels, how many people's hands did these shoes pass through? The farming woman who tends the cattle, the worker, the manager of the contract manufacturing firm, the young New York woman from a wealthy family who wears the shoes - they all have their own difficulties and little sources of happiness in life. This film adopts their dreams as its central theme, and reveals the story that lies behind a pair of beautiful shoes.

Cost: Free and open to the public.

Sponsors: , Asian Pacific Studies Institute (APSI) and Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (AMES)