The Home Promised Documentary Screening & Discussions on Urban Taiwan
Friday, October 9th, 2015
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, October 9, 2015 | 2:00PM - 4:00PM | External Event, Media Commons Theatre Robarts Library 130 St. George Street |
Description
Directed by emerging Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Betty Xie, The Home Promised is a short documentary film that takes us to the heart of one of the last “illegally-constructed” neighbourhoods in downtown Taipei, soon to be torn down. With its earliest buildings dating back to the Japanese colonial period, the neighbourhood was later settled by loyal Kuomintang soldiers who fled mainland China after 1949, as well as rural migrants who desired to find jobs in the city. Through its architecture, people, history, and collective memory, the Shaoxing neighbourhood is not only a reflection of Taipei’s current growth and urban history, but also a self-enclosed world within the city centre. Shot with a distinct cinema verite style, The Home Promised centres on Wang Chang-biao, the leader of the local residents’ association, and his struggles to help chart a permanent solution for the neighbourhood. Juxtaposed with shots into the everyday life of the residents, the film follows Wang through a visit to a potential relocation site and heated citizens’ meetings. It is during this process of dealing with an uncertain future, that the residents begin to see each other as part of a shared community. Candid and moving, The Home Promised depicts the fight for relocation as an integral part of community formation, calling into question where and why we belong.
Betty Xie is an emerging filmmaker who believes that extraordinary stories are embedded in the everyday lives of ordinary people, and she is on a life-long search for extraordinary/ordinary narratives. Specifically, she is interested in themes of diaspora, migration, and identity. Betty wrote and directed the fiction short Girlfriends, which was screened at the 2013 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and the 2014 Reel World Film Festival. Her second film, The Home Promised, premiered at the 2014 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, and is an official selection of CAAMFest 2015 in San Francisco, the 2015 American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs, and the 2015 Sunderland Short Film Festival in the UK.
Space is limited, registration required.
Website
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