A newly-wed American picks up a red envelope on the ground near a Taiwanese night market. What he discovers inside the envelope is a family saga that binds two worlds.
SYNOPSIS
ANDY and his Taiwanese husband ILAN finally register their marriage in Taiwan. The newly-weds decide to visit their favourite food stall at the local night market for a celebratory dinner. When ANDY spots a red envelope on the ground and picks it up, an AMA (Taiwanese grandma) creeps out of the dark. She tells Andy that according to the local tradition, he is the chosen husband for her deceased granddaughter XIN-YI. Moreover, they have to get married before XIN-YI’s One-Hundredth-Day Memorial otherwise she will be stuck in the purgatory forever. ANDY and ILAN freak out and storm away; AMA desperately hopes that this clean-faced American will return soon.
PROJECT
INFO
Completed
Fantasy, Drama, LGBTQ
4K / Digital / Colour
English / Mandarin / Taiwanese
Shu-fang, Zach Ireland, Austin Zheng, Huang Wei
TRAILER
CREATIVE INTENTION
Red envelope, in Chinese culture, celebrates happiness and unity in life and can often be seen in a marriage ceremony. However, a lot of women still struggle with the pressure associated with marriage in contemporary Taiwanese society. There is a Chinese proverb that succinctly captures the notion of marriage for women: “Marriage is the grave of love”. While more women are defying the heteronormative paths carved out for them, queer communities are tirelessly fighting for marriage equality. The defiance compels the director - a hetero cis-woman- to wonder: Why does the question of marriage evoke different emotional responses?
Ghost marriage is a particular ritual that sets out to marry away unmarried dead women. When life enters any kind of unknown stage, not only is there fear, but also certain expectations. This tradition demonstrates that life and death have strong connections, but there is little conversation about them in Taiwanese culture. Our film would like to explore these existential questions through the perspectives of Andy, an immigrant from the US, who is unaware of local traditions in Taiwan. The film navigates a broader definition of what it means to be a family today, while also respectfully recognising the cultural differences from the past, through the present and to the future. The proof-of-concept short film is currently in post-production and we plan to develop it into a feature film in 2023.
CREATOR'S
PROFILE
C.K. Hugo Chung
Executive Producer / Scriptwriter
Taiwanese by nature, New Yorker by nurture, C.K. Hugo Chung is an experienced film distributor and producer for more than 30 titles. In 2018, his distribution title, "Custody" (Jusqu’à la garde) won the Silver Lion for Best Director in the 74th Venice International Film Festival. His documentary title, "RBG" was nominated for 2 Academy Awards: Best Documentary and Best Original Song. His VR prototype production, “LIPs”, won the Grand Jury prize in the Kaohsiung Film Festival VR Film Lab. Currently he is developing several independent features and a streaming series.
Tami Xu
Executive Producer / Scriptwriter / Director
Tami is an experienced producer and director who received her training at Paris and Beijing. She has worked with well-known independent auteurs such as Ye Lou, Xiaogang Gu, etc., and she specializes in international co-production. She was selected for Berlinale Talents (2013), Talents Tokyo (2013), Produire Au Sud Taipei (2018) and Kaohsiung VR Film Lab (2020). These days she not only spends time developing her own projects, she also promotes emerging talents, and immerse herself with VR/XR/AR content, hoping to expand her creative landscape into the territories of 5G telecommunication and the technology of artificial intelligence to enhance cinematic experience.
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