ASIA 325 Hong Kong Cinema – Creative Project
Documentary Film-making: A Creative Response to Ann Hui’s Song of the Exile
By Gavin Wang, Miucci Yung, Jacqueline Lee, Kai Tang, Lucas Jiang, and Sewon Park
“In order to effectively convey the mentioned themes in a meaningful manner, we asked ourselves thought-provoking questions:
- How has geographical migration influenced the way a migratory subject leads their life?
- When settling in a new land, what type of communities or environments do migratory subjects seek out?
- Do these places or groups resemble former constructs of home or new ones?
Since the film follows the perspective of Hueyin in Ann Hui’s Song of the Exile, we decided to explore the perspective of her mother, who, though we knew her migratory path, was not given the place to express these sentiments fully.
In order to give a voice to Aiko, we chose to interview an elderly lady who, similarly to Aiko, moved from place to place, assimilating aspects of herself, migrating from China to Peru, then to Vancouver. In order to evoke feelings of memory and nostalgia, we applied 16mm film effects and colour-graded the footage with warmer colours. We have selected this documentary format as a way to re-interpret the concept of the flashback utilized in the film. Mo Siu Popo’s storytelling is not only a flashback for herself but also informs the audience’s potential to step into her reflective gaze as guided by the pacing of the overlaid clips to mimic the flowing of memories.” — Project Rationale