Celebrate Cultural Diversity Through 2022 World Ethnic Film Festival

The 2022 World Ethnic Film Festival, featuring a selection of 17 films from around the world, aims to rise public awareness of cultural differences, and foster cross-racial dialogues.

2022 World Ethnic Film Festival at Taipei’s SPOT-Huashan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — In a world where conflicts are often triggered by racial, cultural and religious differences, can film possibly provides us with a window to understanding, or perhaps embracing, those who are different from us?

The 2022 World Ethnic Film Festival was launched on September 16, featuring a selection of 17 films from around the world, including Taiwan, Mongolia, Tibet, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, the Arab world, Ukraine and Russia. The films were presented in four themes — The Vision, Asian Impression, Panorama, and New Waves — and screened throughout Taiwan: Taipei’s SPOT-Huashan, Taichung’s Shin Kong Cinemas and the Kaohsiung Film Archive.

This year marks the first edition of the World Ethnic Film Festival, succeeding the Mongolian and Tibetan Film Festival from previous year. Organised by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, this festival aims to— according to Minister of Culture, Lee Yung-Te — raise public awareness of cultural differences, particularly languages and religions, and foster cross-racial dialogues.

Opening Film: Remember Me

2022 World Ethnic Film Festival opened with a Mongolian film, Remember Me (2020). Set in a small village in Mongolia, Remember Me shed light on Mongolia’s lesser known history from the 1990s when millions of books were burned throughout the country under the guise of collecting waste paper for recycling purposes.

After the fall of communist government, Mongolia was a shambles — its people had a hard time making a living, except for a very few who capitalised on recycling papers and metal parts.

Remember Me (2020)

Javkaa, a teenage boy who often goes on scavenger hunt with his friends to find recyclables in exchange for money, falls in love with Murun, who works at a local school library during the day, and takes care of her bed-ridden mother at night.

In this practically deserted part of the country, the school’s library books provide perhaps the only access to the outside world. But the recyclers go as far to emptying the school library, putting the future of young villagers, as well as their family, in peril.

Remember Me is an adaptation from Naminchimed Bassan’s memoire, Boy and the Books. Shot in near-documentary style, this film closely demonstrates what the country was like when Gan-Ochir Enebish, the Mongolian film director, was a child. Through this film, Enebish hopes to remind the audience that books are considered to be collective intellectual property, and what it means to preserve them.

The Vision features the following film: Remember Me (2020), Ballad of a White Cow (2020), And Then We Danced (2019), Supermonk (2018), Hema Hema: Sing Me A Song While I Wait (2016), and Blue Brave: The Legend of Formosa in 1895 (2008).

Not My Mother’s Baking (2020)

A Journey of Identity and Self-Discovery

Asian Impression features films from different regions across Asia, namely India, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Out of the three films selected for this theme, I had the opportunity to watch Not My Mother’s Baking (2020) and Before, Now & Then (2022).

I remember how the cross-cultural narrative of Not My Mother’s Baking caught my attention when the film first came out. The story revolves around Sarah, the daughter of a star chef, who doesn’t want to live in the shadow of her celebrity mom.

Sarah’s adventure in launching her own video channel — aptly called Not My Mother’s Baking — not only brings her astonishing success, but also leads her to an unexpected romantic encounter. The real shock comes in when Sarah, raised as a Muslim, finds out that the parents of this man, Edwin, whom she has fallen in love with run a roast pork stall.

The film ends with two families happily celebrating Sarah and Edwin’s wedding. Of course, this wouldn’t have been possible without Edwin giving in to become a Muslim, alongside the families’ mutual respect toward different cultural traditions and religious practices.

Before, Now & Then (2022)

Contrary to Not My Mother’s Baking that is set in contemporary Malaysia, Before, Now & Then (2022) is a period drama that recounts the story of Nana, a woman who is a victim of the violent times in rural Indonesia from 1940s to 1960s.

After losing her family to the war, Nana finds refuge in a second marriage. Though living a seemingly comfortable, well-off life, Nana remains vulnerable as she navigates her way through her past and present; at night, she’s haunted by nightmares about her past and, during the day, she tries to keep her composure in front of her unfaithful husband. The unexpected return of her supposedly dead ex-husband puts Nana in a difficult situation, torn between her duty and what her heart really desires.

Though this poignant story leaves the audience with a heavy heart, I’m fascinated by its extremely poetic scenography used to portray Nana’s dreams, from a cow walking through her house to her encounter with a young lady whose identity is not revealed until the final scene. Like Nana, the audience has to wait until the end to know what is real.

Asian Impression features the following films: Before, Now & Then (2022), The Last Film Show (2021), and Not My Mother’s Baking (2020).

Crescendo (2019)

A Dissonant ‘Crescendo’

Crescendo (2019) narrates the story of a world-famous conductor Eduard Sporck, who accepts a job to put together a Israeli-Palestinian youth orchestra for a peace concert.

To resolve the tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians, Sporck takes this divided orchestra from Tel Aviv to Italy, the neutral ground, where he comes up with various activities for the musicians to bond. During the process, both sides are encouraged to express their anger, fear, and emotions toward the other.

In the course of time, the barrier between them softens; this has a great impact on their music, too, when the young musicians could finally perform as “one”. But peace never lasts. On the eve of the concert, a Palestinian died in an accident. As a result of this sudden tragedy, the concert is cancelled and the tension, now reaches to an international level, heightens.

Audience might wonder whether this conundrum of cross-cultural conflict will ever be solved until the musicians, right before their departure, take the initiative to play as an orchestra for one last time. Immersed in the rhythmic repetitions from Maurice Ravel’s Boléro playing in the background, the audience is rest assured that, at the end of the day, people seek for peace, not war.

Panorama features the following film: Reflection (2021), Crescendo (2019), and For Sama (2021).

Casablanca Beats (2021)

When New Waves Meet Tradition

What better way to present the arrival of new era than a conflict between the old and new, such as that seen in the Moroccan film, Casablanca Beats (2021)?

Having visited Casablanca many years ago, I was naturally drawn towards this film, which is set in the Sidi Moumen district in Casablanca. The film features real-life rapper Anas Basbousi who takes on a job at a local art school, where he encourages his students to use their authentic voices — this is in tune with the film’s original title in Arabic, علي صوتك, which literally means “raise your voice”.

It’s hard to imagine how hip hop culture, particularly rap music, could find its place in an Islamic country such as that of Morocco. The story of Casablanca Beats unfolds as each student struggles to express their true self through rhythmic beatboxing and provocative, heart-felt rapping, but all the while having to endure opposition from their family. In the end, Anas leaves the school with a heavy — but happy — heart, knowing that the students will not give up on showing their true colours.

New Wave features the following film: Casablanca Beats (2021), One Week and a Day (2016), Hang in There, Kids! (2016), Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary (2020), and Never Forget Tibet: Dalai Lama’s Untold Story (2022).

The screening of the closing film, Never Forget Tibet (2022), marks the end of the 2022 World Ethnic Film Festival. Thanks to this special event, I get to experience what it’s like watching five films in less than one week’s time — I only wish that I had more time!

Unlike the Mongolian and Tibetan Film Festival from previous year, the 2022 World Ethnic Film Festival expands its film selection beyond Mongolia and Tibet, broadening our horizons of what cultural diversity entails. As an avid participant of the festival, I was inspired to reflect and contemplate on my own culture, knowing that diversity is not only present across cultures, but found in one culture alone.

2022 World Ethnic Film Festival was held at Taipei’s SPOT-Huashan, Taichung’s Shin Kong Cinemas and the Kaohsiung Film Archive from September 16 to September 25, 2022.