Reunion Gift (团圆饭)
The Reunion Dinner on the eve of Chinese New Year is an most important occasion for the family to reunion. But for this single mother and daughter it's a very different story. As the daughter grows up, eventually married and realises she may not be able to have Reunion Dinner with her mother.
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Director's Statement:
The short film explores the role of a woman in her family and how it changes when she gets married.
It's set in a context where women only have the traditional Reunion Dinner with her husband's parents, something we take it for granted and treat it as a norm. In order to portray the changes, we create a story about a single mother and her daughter. And using a few scenes to show the key points of their life which set on the reunion dinner backdrop to develop the relationship of the mother and daughter.
Music was also kept minimal to allow the performances of the actors to shine but enough to dramatize scenes when characters are not speaking. Referencing "Yi Yi", a film by one of my favorite Taiwanese filmmakers, Edward Yang, we try to underplay the emotions and hope to deliver the story's message.