When Spring Rain Falls

A Taiwanese documentary that revisits a pivotal yet little-known chapter in Taiwan’s modern history. It examines the 1970 attempted assassination of Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) in New York by Taiwanese pro-independence activists studying in the United States. Through rare archival footage, personal letters, and interviews with surviving participants, the film reconstructs the political atmosphere of the 1970s—an era marked by authoritarian rule in Taiwan and rising democratic ideals abroad. Rather than sensationalizing the act of violence, When Spring Rain Falls probes the motivations, inner conflicts, and subsequent fates of those involved, while also exploring how their radical defiance shaped the trajectory of Taiwan’s democratization. It is at once a political thriller, a historical inquiry, and a meditation on youthful idealism confronting oppressive power.