Taipei // Taichung on Film

From our Airbnb to the hills of CingJing. Taken with a fujifilm disposable camera.

Yolo. (literally).

Bali on Film

With XiaoYu the Fisheye camera, and… I think it’s a roll of expired slide film.

 

 

 

PhotoTaking

Where colonial bungalows and aerospace plans collide.

Expired Fisheye

This roll would have been way past its expiry date, because it was already expired to begin with, and on top of that I took more than 365 days to finish it!

Interesting results.

Xiao Tang’s Miss

On this trip to Melbourne and Victoria, I had brought XiaoTang along, excitedly immersing myself in Lomography after what has felt like a long absence.

The results, unfortunately… were disappointing.

Still, among the terribly underexposed and grainy pictures, I guess I can still see some glimpses of the moments I had hoped to capture.

Blackout (2009)

It was surprising to not find much information about this film on the net. There are apparently a lot more popular films out there with the same title.

The film follows a young French reporter as he shadows a Hutu student in Rwanda looking for his Tutsi fiance in the midst of the genocide. Although he starts off being confident about handling and reporting on the effects and trauma of war, the emotional and psychological toll on him is apparent by the end of the film. As a viewer, I felt something tug at my moral conscience as well. It’s the similar feeling I get when I see images of war and natural disasters on the news from the comfort of my computer screen.

http://www.bacfilms.com/international/film/30

Mother Fish

Between 1975 and 1996, over 1,500,000 people fled Vietnam. Of those, only 900,000 made it to land.
Refugees continue to arrive by boat even today.
According to the Refugee Council of Australia, “Fleeing by boat is often very costly and extremely dangerous, and asylum seekers are vulnerable to exploitation by smugglers. It is not a form of escape which would be willingly chosen by asylum seekers if safer options were available.”

I’ve also taken a personal interest in the area of music therapy and refugees, and this article came up in the search: Music Therapy Helps Refugees. The possibilities and potential seem endless, and I hope I get an opportunity to work in this area next year. .

The Kindergarten Teacher

Caught this film at the recent Israel Film Festival – decided to give myself a break given that I’ve missed so many movies I would have liked to catch this year! A film about a young boy’s talent for words and poetry, and his kindergarten teacher’s growing obsessiveness with nurturing him and his talent. That his home environment was not supportive seemed to spur her determination on to bring him to greater heights.  Some lines are blurred as the audience wonders whether she is truly doing it for him or to feed her own ego and sense of achievement.

To digress – I couldn’t help but think that that’s how teaching today has come to be. I recall hearing ex-colleagues say: “I did this with the class, as a result they are…”. “So-and-so from my class got this and that achievement. I remember telling him…” Once, I thought a colleague seemed on the verge of expressing pride at herself when her student did well in his CCA, when he wasn’t even in her CCA! I know it’s good for teachers to be proud of their students and the work they do, but pride that comes from “Its my effort – they wouldn’t have achieved so much without me“- is simply egoism, don’t you think?

I know, because I’ve felt that way. And it’s a continuous battle to keep that pesky ego in check.

Anyway, back to the film- I found the ending slightly disturbing, even though I had inklings about where she was headed from some scenes in the middle. I think I sensed some transferencial relationships going on as well. Psychologically thought-provoking. I loved the play with words and poetry throughout as well. We can only wonder how much of the passages’ lyrical beauty was lost in translation.

Gabrielle

Caught this amazing Canadian French film at the recent Sydney Film Festival.

The choir voices and arrangements are a beautiful backdrop to a moving storyline – young adults with varying intellectual disabilities, wanting to lead independent lives, trying to discover and experience Love in their own ways, dealing with concern from their family members and society who view them in different ways.

Knowing that filmmaker Louis Archambault used authentic actors and settings for this film made it even more inspiring. The authenticity of the characters gave me more to contemplate and reflect on. How do we view the mentally challenged in our societies? Are we guilty of assuming that they do not know or understand certain things, just because they have different intellectual capacities? It can be so easy to gloss over their desires and thoughts, because they do not articulate. However, receptive language is very different from expressive language – just because a person does not (is not able to) express herself does not mean that there is lack of emotions or understanding within. 

The film does a beautiful job of portraying the inner life of Gabrielle, as well as her sister – her carer – highlighting the challenges and fears they face in an ever-changing world. It does not judge, and neither does it ask viewers to come to any moral conclusion or decision – it simply allows us to experience a glimpse of the life of someone with different needs, and asks that we open our minds and hearts that little bit more, to empathize, understand, accept.

The Patience Stone

A story told from the perspective of a woman in war-torn Afghanistan. As she speaks to her bed-ridden husband, unburdening her years of pent-up secrets and emotions, we get glimpses of what life must be like for women living in the country. The story also deals with the emotional and human cost of war. Based on the novel by Atiq Rahimi, which I would like to read someday.