A Mirror Image : HK x Taiwan Documentaries
Vicissitudes
Rice Distribution
平安米
Tammy CHEUNG / hong kong
During the Ghost Festival, many Taoist organisations give away rice to the elderly and the poor. The rice distribution depicted in this film attracted over eight thousand people. Most of them waited over 20 hours.
The screening in Edinburgh on 26th March will be followed by a hybrid Q&A session Dialogue between the shores, featuring Dir. HUANG Ting-fu (online) and Dir. Tammy CHEUNG (in-person), hosted by Dr. Fraser ELLIOTT (in-person).
Nail
指月記
“Nail” is Director Huang Ting-fu’s year and a half long (a year of filming and 6 months of editing) look at life through the window of Taipei’s historic Long-Shan temple. Shot in monochrome, in an area of only 200 sq. m., the film immerses us in the daily passing of time that is life at Long-Shan.
An architectural blend of the ornate, the garish and the traditional, Long-Shan temple sits in the midst of a crowded working class area of Taipei, filled with a diverse mix of the old and the new, with cheap good food, ageing prostitutes, and places to just hang out and have a smoke and exist. The temple itself is not beautiful, nor does it have an impressive view, every day it is filled with visitors. Frequented mostly by the elderly who pass away their days sleeping, engaged in idle gossip, or just watching the other visitors, it is a fascinating place where scant attention is paid to time.
Ting-Fu HUANG / Taiwan
Whispers
Flowing Stories
河上變村
Tsui Shan TSANG / hong kong, france
Filmed on locations in Hong Kong and in various cities in France and UK, Flowing Stories is an ode to village life and a journey in search of Hong Kongers’ collective roots. Tsang’s camera records the beautiful scenery and time-honoured customs of the local village, as well as a once-a-decade village festival, which serves as a continuation of a tradition passed down through generations and a testament of family bonding. Seeing how a lot of Hong Kong citizens nowadays are confused about the future, the director hopes to explore the meaning of home and diaspora through reviewing the village’s development in this documentary.
A Holy Family
神人之家
Elvis A-Liang LU / Taiwan, France
A Holy Family is a personal account of A-Liang Elvis Lu’s own return to his family in a rural area of southwestern Taiwan after 24 years of absence. It explores the conflicts A-Liang has with his family with their religious practices, superstitions, and what he sees as blind beliefs in supposedly life-changing miracles. Carrying with him just a camera, A-Liang is forced to face his own trauma and grudges as he starts to observe the intertwined emotions in his family from the perspective of a filmmaker. It is an intimate journey of home-coming, a portrait of rekindled family bonding despite differences in religious beliefs, and an unflinching tale of self- discovery through filmmaking.
Kindred Histories
Blue Island
憂鬱之島
Tze Woon CHAN / Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan
The film documents three real-life characters across time engaging in rebellions (during the Cultural Revolution, during the 1967 riot and during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre) when they were young. Through reconstructing these events, the film dramatises their scarred memories and experiences by interlinking their stories with four young people who have participated in the 2019 Anti-extradition Law Amendment Movement in Hong Kong. Although these protagonists are separated by time and history, their lives parallel and overlap with each other as they find themselves swimming in similar chaotic predicaments.
Taste of Wild Tomato (UK Premiere)
野蕃茄 (英國首映)
Kaohsiung served as an important military base under Japanese rule. It suffered heavy casualties during the 228 Incident, in which the civilians were brutally suppressed. The film shows how each individual survives and sustains their memories through the different eras of oppression. To this day, memories of it still live in some people and places, and the wild tomatoes grown from this land.
Kek-Huat LAU / taiwan
This section is presented in partnership with the Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office in the UK.
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