2020 CTS Film Week: Pakeriran (巴克力藍的夏天) Film Screening, Introduced by Dr Chen Pin-Chuan (Director of Cultural Division, TRO in the UK)

Dr Chen Pin-Chuan (Director of Cultural Division, TRO in the UK)

2017｜80 min｜Color｜Narrative Feature｜Mandarin, Amis｜

2018 WorldFest Houston International Film and Video Festival - Gold Award

Synopsis

Amis teenager, Futing, is a city boy who is asked to return to his coastal village one summer to take care of his injured grandpa. There, he meets Lisin, a girl who is visiting the village while following in her absent father’s footsteps. To impress her, Futing begins fishing and gathering. He joins the Pakarongay, the lowest rank in the age hierarchy, and learns the basics such as toasting, respecting and serving the elderly, and guarding the village. Romance begins to blossom between the two when Lisin brings him a homemade lunch box.

A story about an Indigenous youth returning to his ethnic group and discovering who he is, Pakeriran examines questions of self-identity for the new generation. Futing reconnects with his mother culture through participating in the annual Sacepo’ (sea festival) on his grandpa’s behalf. So begins a transformation, overturning his rejection and lack of knowledge of ethnic rituals to physically embrace the Amis’ life philosophy. In the end, when he swims to the Pakeriran Island, his coming of age and rite of passage is complete.

Director Biography: Lekal Sumi Cilangasan

Born in 1985, Lekal returned to his mother’s Amis ethnic group after completing his military service. In 2011, he began filming the rehabilitation of terraced fields that have been abandoned for 20 years, and completed his first documentary Wish of the Ocean Rise in 2012, and has since become a filmmaker.

Speaker Biography

Dr. Chen holds a Ph.D in film studies from King's College London (KCL) and previously taught at the Chaoyang University of Technology's (朝陽科技大學) Department of Communication Arts. In September 2016, he was appointed by the Ministry of Culture as director of the Taiwan Film Institute (TFI).

During his service from 2016 through July 2019, he established the Taiwan Cinema Digital Restoration Lab (數位修復實驗室) and initiated the restoration and digitalization of old film reels and classic Taiwanese documentaries, as he views film as an integral heritage asset. He also helped to showcase the institute’s digital restoration results in Taiwan and abroad.

* All SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies are free and open to all to attend. We suggest you arrive a few minutes early at the venue to secure your seat.

Organiser: SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies

Contact email: ml156@soas.ac.uk

Sponsor: Taiwan Film Institute & Taiwan Cinema Toolkit