Distant Relations

Sat. Nov. 4th, 1:30 PM

Families shape who we are—and how we exist in time and space. This collection of films looks at women and men, children and parents, and the way in which these relations are configured by generation, geography, politics, and custom.

Father And Son

Director/Writer/Producer: Joe Chang
Animation | Beta | Colour | 2006 | 5 minutes | Canada

Joe Chang’s animated short film draws inspiration from his 6-year old son and his perceptions of the process of bonding between parent and child. With humour and sentiment, it hopes to draw people’s attention to the extraordinary moments in our otherwise ordinary lives.

Canadian Premiere

Comrade Dad

Director/Writer/Producer: Karin Lee
Documentary | Beta | Colour | 2005 | 26 minutes | Canada

Karin Lee’s father ran a Communist bookstore on Vancouver’s Skid Row from the mid-1960’s until the early 1980’s. Her experimental documentary twists the memories of a socialist-raised child into the reflections of an adult who is conflicted over the schism between idealism and capitalism.

Director in Attendance

62 Years And 6,500 Miles

Director/Writer/Producer: Anita Wen-Shin Chang
Documentary | Beta | Color | 2005 | 52 minutes | USA

Anita Chang’s grandmother was an award-winning writer and an activist with the Taipei Women’s Rights Organization. This biographical documentary looks at the challenges of constructing history, both the personal history of Ama and the political history of post-colonial, globalized Taiwan.

Canadian Premiere

The Women’s Kingdom

Director/Writer/Producer: Xialoi Zhou
Documentary | Beta | Colour | 2005 | 21 minutes | USA

The Mosuo are a minority tribe who live by a beautiful lake in Southwestern China. They are known as the last matriarchal society in China because of their 1,000 year old practice of “walking marriage”. Mosuo men walk into the rooms of women at night, and leave at daybreak. In Mosuo, women don’t depend on men for money, and fathers don’t live with their children. Many tourists have started to visit the Mosuo because they believe it is a “free love” society. Tourism has brought the Mosuo wealth, but it has also changed their culture. What kinds of dilemmas are the Mosuo now struggling with, and how do they feel about the future?

Canadian Premiere

Celebrity Host for this program:

Kameron Louangxay

A graduate of the UBC Theatre Department, Kameron has spent the past 2 years in Toronto and currently calls Vancouver home. Past and recent work includes 16 Blocks, Mayday, the Canadian film short, Comrade Mine, and Mina Shum’s Long Life, Happiness, and Prosperity.

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