As a college student at UCLA I went on the Taiwan Love Boat back in the 1980s, and as a filmmaker as well as an alumna I’ve always wanted to make a documentary about the program. 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. Young people from all over the world, including the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, and beyond, have attended this program since then.

Although it was advertised as a cultural enrichment program, with classes in Mandarin-language study, martial arts, and brush painting, the Study Tour’s popularity came from another source: its reputation as an excellent place to find romance. Because of that it’s more widely known as the Taiwan Love Boat.

Promotional video ca. 1980, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN

Throughout its history the Love Boat has served three purposes: as a political tool for Taiwan’s government, as a means for Taiwanese American and Chinese Americans parents to insure the preservation of their bloodlines, and as a site for romance for young Taiwanese Americans and Chinese Americans. For several decades these three agendas have amicably co-existed and as political and cultural circumstances have changed over its nearly fifty years of existence, the Love Boat has changed as well. How does the Love Boat’s evolution over the decades reflect the history of the relationship between Taiwan and the United States?

Touring, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN

As a professor in Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University as well as the director and producer of LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN, I'm looking forward to finishing this project in 2019 and sharing it with the world. I've interviewed Love Boat alumni, 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.

Evan and Mehgan, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN

I’ll be traveling to Taiwan at the end of November 2018 to shoot the wedding banquet of Evan and Mehgan, who met on Love Boat several years ago and just got married in Colorado. This will round out the production phase of the film.

Campaign

I’ve been actively researching and shooting interviews for the Love Boat: Taiwan documentary for the past few years. I spent the summer of 2016 in Taiwan following that year’s version of the Love Boat and I recently interviewed Congresswoman Judy Chu, who went on the trip when she was in college in the 1970s and who is now a member of the Taiwan Congressional Caucus in the US Senate.

Congresswoman Judy Chu, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN

I've had some health setbacks this year so it's taken me a bit longer to get to this stage in production. But I've already started preparing for postproduction and I'm very excited to be moving on to the final stages of the film.

I’m about to start postproduction on the film, which is a critical part of the filmmaking process. Here I’ll be shaping the story of LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN and bringing this important part of Asian American history to a wide audience. With your support LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN will document a program that impacted the lives of so many people over the years.

Goals

I’m hoping to raise $20,000 or more for postproduction for the film. Here are some of the things your contribution will help with:

• For $50 we can pay for the per diem (meals) for one crew member for one day.
• For $100 we can hire a production assistant for one day.
• For $800 we can hire an assistant editor for one week.
• For $1200 we can hire an editor for one week.
• For $3000 we can hire a soundtrack consultant and music supervisor who will help us to find and organize the significant music from the history of the Love Boat from the 1960s onward.
• For $5000 we can hire an AfterEffects artist who will design our title sequence and other animation in the film.

Perks

For your donation you can get a whole slew of custom-designed LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN swag, including buttons t-shirts, hats, tote bags, and limited-edition hoodies. You can also get your own copy of the finished film once it’s completed its festival run, either via digital download or a DVD. You can also get tickets to the film’s premiere and to the afterparty and meet the filmmakers and other folks in the movie. You can go on food tours in the US or Taiwan with the film’s director, Valerie Soe. And you can also become a producer or executive producer of the film!

Perk: Love Boat package

Impact

Although Jeremy Lin is an international celebrity and Fresh Off The Boat is a popular sitcom, Taiwanese Americans are still somewhat invisible in U.S. media. LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN focuses on the Taiwanese American community’s distinct history and culture and gives voice to the Taiwanese American experience, emphasizing the transnational ties and commonalities that shape Taiwanese identity in Taiwan and in the US.

Valerie Soe interviewing Dr. Jeanne Li, Taipei, Taiwan 2016

Producing and directing an independent documentary film is a big challenge and many films never get finished. As a veteran filmmaker with more than 20 short experimental films and documentaries under my belt, I know I have the experience and know-how to bring this project — my first-feature length film — to life. And with your generous aid and assistance, I'm sure I’ll be able to bring it to completion. In addition to this Indiegogo campaign, I’ve applied for grants from foundations and organizations including the Center for Asian American Media and the Sundance Institute and I hope to hear from them by the end of 2018. You help is invaluable to this film’s creation. Become a part of the team that brings LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN across the finish line!

Other Ways You Can Help

If you’re not able to make a donation right now, please share the campaign widely across your networks! Post on your social media, tell your friends and family, and spread the word! The more buzz for LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN the more support we’ll be able to get. And with that support we’ll be able to finish the movie and share it with you, our supporters.

Thanks so much for all that you do. I really appreciate it.