Caracoles: New Paths of Resistance

Produced in August 2003 in the communities of Oventik and Morelia by 18 Zapatista video makers, "Caracoles" is a celebration of the death of the Aguascalientes and the birth of the Caracoles and the Good Government Assemblies. Various members of the Zapatista leadership discuss how these changes will affect internal political and economic processes, gender relations, and their relationship to international civil society.

Shadow

This film follows in the intimate and meticulous aesthetics a woman to open her hesitant umbrella of protection, and when, amidst the dual power of image and sound, a flood of emotion pours unavoidably forth. The power of this piece lies in how the director's watchful camera lens, when it entirely avoids disturbing the dramatic blend of feeling unfolding before it, shows us how a reserved 30-year-old woman can, in an instant, transform into a doted-upon young girl.

Mr. Cortisone, Happy Days

The isolation room, where he stays for radioavtive iodine treatment, becomes on inspiring cinematic location for the director, who is a cancer patient. Moving in front of and behind the camera , he is convinced of the power of art to control and bring a happy end to his story. Hope is shattered with the discovery of new aggressive tumors in his spine. While waiting for a series of operations in New York City, the director receives large doses of cortisone. His stream of consciousness turns hyper-realistic, and the camera becomes his close and intimate companion.

Yuning's Return

"Yuning's Return" chronicles the life of a female migrant worker as she struggles to support her family, which is falling apart. Yuning worked as a domestic worker in Taipei, sending all her money back home. Her hard work and determination to succeed, however, did not lead to a brighter future. Responding to the family's call for her to go home, Yuning ends her contract three months early and returns to Indonesia, where heartbreaking truths await in her family.

Waiting

In this material world where values have been quantified, different environments reveal stark distinctions. Only true feelings can fill in the painful gap. Human dignity is glorified in these differences. What this old couple expects from life and from fate, their touching dependence on each other, make them noblemen in the streets of Jakarta, under the twisted appearance caused by leprosy. They pose quietly and wait, yet speak the most touching words…

Radio Mihu

"This is 91.3 FM, the indigenous voice of Mihu Radio. Good morning, I'm Bayas. Turn your dial to this underground station and hear about our tribe's pears and persimmons, and tune into the gossip about stream beds and mudslides…" Bayas's sharp, witty commentary takes us through one aboriginal tribe's village reconstruction after the disasterous earthquake of September 21, 1999 (commonly called 9-2-1). The film shows how village oppositions and conflicts, absurd yet everyday, are just like those of Taiwan itself, in miniature.

Remember the Coral Reef

"Remember the Coral Reef" is a documentary jointly created by environmental researchers who have spent over 10 years observing and recording marine life around Taiwan, and poets and musicaians whose works have been inspired by the changes of the ocean. It presents the faces of humanity, ocean, and coral reef interacting with one other, and makes us rethink our relationship with the ocean. This is not only an observation report, but also a musical documentary of the marine environment, enriched with audio-visual and literary characteristics.

Ocean Fever

What is it about the Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival that attracts so many bands? Called The Ocean Music Festival in Chinese, this annual rock and roll contest was first organized by Taipei county in 2000. What is it about the festival that keeps the bands coming back year after year? What is that attracts hundreds of thousands of fans to pour into The Ocean to hear the music, eagerly awaiting next year's festival as soon as this year's is over? All the bands striving to succeed at this summer event comes with its own attitude, its own story.

Memorandum on Happiness

After "Beautiful Boys", queer director Mickey CHEN presents his new work, "Memorandum on Happiness". This is a documentary about sweetness and hurt, pursuit and loss. It is a bluebird's song of comrades and their joy, tinged with melancholy premonition-a song that comes from afar as though to rub shoulders with life directly, only to pass on. A story of two marriages, one lesbian and one gay. The parallel structure lays bare the complexity of queer love, but also the cruelty inherent to love itself.

My Rehearsing Marriage

In 2000, Hui, a man with cerebral palsy, spent 200,000 NT dollars to marry a Cambodian beauty, whose name is Qiang Nawei. Returning to visit her hometown, she was kidnapped by her marriage agency, an event that captured the attention of the Taiwanese news. Two years after this disasterous trip home, the couple, with their child, take the director and camera crew on a visit from Taipei to Cambodia.

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