I was in New York City for a week in March and met up with two female filmmaker friends who both lamented about projects that were never completed. I think this is a problem that we face as female artists. It’s often our third or even fourth job and we never have enough time or money to focus exclusively on our projects. Especially now in New York City, with the cost of living being through the roof, you need to scramble just to eat and pay your rent.
Last year, I saw the winds changing in Taiwan and realized that the film needed to be out. We got into the Media Library at Visions du Réel and I went to Switzerland to talk up the film. I was even more thrilled that the film was accepted to the Videotheque of the Sheffield Doc Fest, one of the premiere documentary film festivals of the world. But I was denied entry back to London and found myself stranded in France, not sure what to do.
So I had to stop working on the documentary to figure out my life. And in the meantime, I watched as Taiwan went through a series of exciting political developments, culminating with the DPP sweeping the recent election. This, of course, made Almost Home: Taiwan a little obsolete. In New York, I lamented to my filmmaker friends that I’d have to adjust the ending to reflect the new reality in Taiwan. They both insisted that I needed to buckle down and do it or be haunted for the rest of my life.
So I’m back in Berlin with a modicum of stability and an artist visa allowing me to stay for two years. And after an interruption of about a year, I’m finally resuming work on Almost Home: Taiwan. The bulk of the film is Taiwan’s buried history and I think think this is an important enough reason for the film to exist. Maybe I will just stop at the fight for democracy in 1980s to mid-1990s and make it clear that the fight continues. My goal is to finish a final final final edit of the film by June 3rd in time to submit to Doc NYC. I’ll also secure music rights and (finally!!!) make DVDs for people who donated way way back.
Hopefully, life won’t interrupt again in such a dramatic way.
Thanks so much for your continued support! I promise that this film WILL be done. ❤
Almost Home: Taiwan 