Sappukei (2022, Taiwan, 18 min)
Directors. Wang Chun, Hikky Chen
A female director from Japan is in Saigon, preparing to shoot a film when her male lead suddenly leaves. She begins to rethink the meaning of the resonances and exchanges she has experienced in the city, leading her to perceive the images in front of her more clearly. Unexpected encounters and planned arrivals — these two almost contradictory concepts oscillate in her mind interchangeably. What she feels is not a remembrance of the past, but the future. The traces Saigon has left on her body form a sculpture without dimensions.
Pink Mao (2020, China, Germany, 23 min)
Director: Tang Han
In 1999, shortly before the accession of China to the World Trade Organization, the People’s Bank of China issued a new edition of banknotes, featuring Mao Zedong on all denominations. The 100-Yuan bill turned pink, yet the People’s Bank officially claimed it was «red». As pink is often stereotyped as a «feminine colour», while the male leader’s portrait is supposed to represent a strong masculine character, the juxtaposition of «pink» and the «Leader’s portrait» is worthy of further investigation. Interwoven with contemporary everyday images and historical materials, this essay film contextualises and discusses the representation of the Mao-portrait on the banknotes and the crisis it is experiencing in the digital age.
The Making of Crime Scenes (2021, Taiwan, 22 min)
Director: Hsu Che-yu
During the martial law period, the Taiwanese American writer Henry Liu was shot dead by assassin Wu Dun. The case was later confirmed to be a political murder jointly committed by the Military Intelligence Bureau and United Bamboo Gang in Taiwan. After being released from prison, Wu became a film producer and established a film company that produced wuxia films. In THE MAKING OF CRIME SCENES, the director Hsu Che-yu revisited Wu’s abandoned studio to restage the events with forensic scanning techniques.
Transparent, I am (2020, Japan, 12 min)
Director: Yuri Muraoka
In 2020, when the world was forced to «change», I wanted to confirm what had changed and what hadn't in me. The white mask I wore became the screen projecting my past. My family members sometimes suffer a lot, but support me nevertheless when I experience schizophrenia. We live today to the fullest while continuously looking for the answer to «who we are».
TIDF & Taiwan Docs: A Glimpse of Asian Documentaries II
