2021

Happy Valley

Through processing a year of bewildering news and images from my home in Hong Kong, I've come to question the significance of dear memories and personal joy in the face of things falling apart. As the days teeter toward an uncertain future, Happy Valley cinematically probes the role of the so-called ‘little things’. A rendering of the perseverance of spirit in Hong Kong - an attempt at irony that can’t help but be emotional.

We Still Have to Close Our Eyes

A collage of scenes in the periphery of film sets and locations in Manila made to look like a fictional piece, a gift to a baby named Aki Tala who will grow and watch her father's work for the first time.

Comfort

During the Korean War, the term ‘Supply Class V’ refers to women, as the fifth military supply offered to soldiers. Examining issues of the ongoing lawsuit against the Korean government filed by the former U.S. military’s ‘comfort women’, the film reveals how Japanese military’s sexual slavery system during World War II was repeated in the Korean society. There is no direct interview with the victims in the film, yet their own writings become a part of the story.

Fight for Taiwanese Documentaries: In Memory of Mickey CHEN

In 2000, director Mickey CHEN won the TIDF Audience Award with his film, Boys for Beauty. At the time, the ‘Real Pangcah, Reel Amis’ Documentary Festival, organised by indigenous director Mayaw Biho, was hindered by the Taipei City Government at every turn. A group of Taiwanese directors decided to call out in solidarity at the TIDF award ceremony. This clip documents the development of the plan from plotting to action, and captures rare footage of director CHEN at the podium reading out their letter of protest.

Taipei Dad, New York Mom (Unfinished)

Known for his work in gay cinema, director Mickey CHEN had always wanted to adapt his autobiographical novel, Taipei Dad, New York Mom, into film. In a rough-cut of the film, discovered after he passed away in late 2018, CHEN demonstrates extraordinary strength of will in excavating the wounds of his family: He invites his parents, siblings, and the best friend of his late sister to engage in personal conversation. He recites his writings of past traumatic experiences, even in tears.

People Power Bombshell: The Diary of Vietnam Rose

People Power Bombshell: The Diary of Vietnam Rose is a behind-the-scenes account of The Diary of Vietnam Rose, a film left unfinished by the late Filipino master director Celso Advento CASTILLO. On the basis of 20 recovered rolls of never-before-seen footage of the film shot at the time of the People Power Revolution of 1986, director John TORRES interviewed the original cast and crew on their distressing experiences on the island during the film’s production, including the possible harassment endured by the then 19-year-old actress, Liz ALINDOGAN.

Fifth Cinema

The late Māori filmmaker Barry BARCLAY, who first introduced the concept of ‘Fourth Cinema’ to distinguish indigenous cinema from the established ‘First, Second, and Third Cinema’ framework, provides the text and structure to director NGUYEN Trinh Thi’s hybrid essay film that moves on multiple cinematic and topical terrains.

Everyday's the Seventies

Different versions of the same history—one personal, another depicted by cinema, the third described by the media—are laid on top of each other and collapsed. Mixing footage from Hong Kong movies of the 1980s and 1990s with wire service footage of the Vietnam War and the Vietnamese refugee crisis in Hong Kong from the late 1970s to 1997, and an interview with the owner of Paul’s Records in Hong Kong, Everyday's the Seventies continues to explore the director’s interests in gaps and disconnection between personal memories, history, and other kinds of collective histories.

Eleven Men

Eleven Men is composed of scenes from a range of Vietnamese classic films featuring the same central actress, Như Quỳnh. Spanning three decades of her legendary acting career, most of the appropriated movies—from 1966 to 2000—were produced by the state-owned Vietnam Feature Film Studio. Inspired by ‘Eleven Sons’, a short story by Franz KAFKA first published in 1919, wherein a father declares he has ‘eleven sons’ and then describes each of them in acute and ironic detail, this film begins with a woman stating: ‘I have eleven men’.

A Work in Progress

When a child comes into their lives, how will a couple adjust to the changes? This film can be seen as a sequel to Chin-song and Xiao-shah’s Wedding Plaza: It opens with their expectations for married life, and then presents Chin-song’s monologue in black-and-white chiaroscuro, leading its audience through the passage of life. This film was made during the director’s master’s study, and will welcome its festival debut at TIDF.

You are here