Taiwan / 2021 / Colour / 123 mins / In Taiwanese with Chinese and English subtitles Director: Kek Huat LAU
This film is being played as part of A Mirror Image : Hong Kong X Taiwan Documentaries parallel programme.
Kaohsiung served as an important military base under Japanese rule. It suffered heavy casualties during the 228 Incident, in which the civilians were brutally suppressed. The film shows how each individual survives and sustains their memories through the different eras of oppression. To this day, memories of it still live in some people and places, and the wild tomatoes grown from this land.
Taiwan Competition Grand Prize at Taiwan International Documentary Festival 2022
Selected in:
Busan International Film Festival 2021
Kaohsiung Film Festival 2021
Director's Statement:
Regardless of identity, I hope the traumatic memory of every individual on this island will be treated with dignity and respect.
導演的話
我希望在這塊土地上,無論任何身份,每個人的傷痛都可以被尊重。
Director’s Biography:
Kek-Huat LAU is a Malaysian filmmaker based in Taiwan. His debut film, “Boluomi”, was shortlisted for Best New Director at Busan International Film Festival, New Currents section and was nominated for the Golden Horse Awards. The project won him the Tokyo Talent Award in 2015, Best Script Award in 2013 Taiwan and was selected for La Fabrique. Cinema du monde. His short film “Nia Door” won Best Short Film Award, Sonje Award in Busan International film festival, selected for 38th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Both his documentaries “Absent Without Leave” and “The Tree Remembers” still face censorship today in Malaysia. He is an alumnus of Golden Horse Academy and Berlinale & Tokyo Talents. Lau was also jury and mentor for regional filmmaking events such as Doc Doc, Asiadoc, FFD, New Asian Scenery.
The Hong Kong Film Festival UK, HKFF (UK), aims to shine an international spotlight on Hong Kong’s creativity and humanity through film. The festival also strives to promote cultural interactions and exchanges between Hong Kong communities and UK citizens. Hong Kong’s world-renowned cinema was born out of its unique history and rich social context. Building on this vivid and eclectic history, the Festival aims to introduce a new wave of Hong Kong cinema that has blossomed in an era of drastic transformation. It is time to tell Hong Kong’s story again, to preserve and promote Hong Kong's cultural heritage, and to reflect on the city's enchanting, complex, and challenging reality from a fresh perspective.