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Taiwanese Film Screenings 2023

Mary Irwin Theater, Rotary Center for the Arts Kelowna

Kulumaha! Behind the Singing

October 28, 2023 | 11:00 AM

This is a story behind the beautiful singing at the bottom of Mount Jade, the highest mountain in Taiwan. In 2008, Vox Nativa (a Taiwan Acapella Children’s Choir) sang their way from Taiwan to the Vienna Cathedral and various places around the world with their song ‘Kipahpah ima.’ However, being a music performing group was not the initial purpose of the ‘Vox Nativa Association, Taiwan’; it was the culmination of 14 years of educational achievements.

This film began shooting in 2018 and avoids using a third-party narrator. Instead, it weaves together interviews with the individuals and records of their lives over the four-year period. It truthfully presents the precious moments of growth that the children experienced in Vox Nativa. It also captures several graduated students as they transition into key stages of life, such as studying in urban high schools, and universities, and preparing to enter the workforce. The film reflects on the concerns and issues of rural education, the indigenous bonus points system, and the challenges of adapting from tribes to cities. After having attended Vox Nativa and left their tribal villages, will these children return with the skills they have acquired?”

Documentary | Hao-Mei Chen | 2022 | 80 min

Language: Mandarin and Bunun

Subtitles: English and Traditional Chinese

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City of Lost Things

October 28, 2023 | 2:00 PM

2020 Golden Horse Best Animation Feature Winner; 2021 Taipei Film Awards for Best Animation, Best Art Design, Best Makeup & Costume Design, and Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution Nominees; 2021 Annecy International Animated Film Festival Contrechamp Award Nominee

Leaf is a 16-year-old struggling teenager. One day he decides to run away from home and ends up mysteriously in a strange place called the City of Lost Things. There he meets Baggy, a 30-year-old plastic bag. Baggy never sees himself as just another piece of unwanted junk. In fact, he is a true visionary and promises to lead his tribe to flee the City of Lost Things. But he must first convince a reluctant Leaf to help fight the Armors, the dreadful gatekeepers of this city.

Animation | Chih-yen Yee | 2020 | 91 min | PG

Language: Mandarin

Subtitles: English and Traditional Chinese

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