Event dates: April 14- 15 ,  2018
Location: MAIIAM Theater
Time: 3pm till 5.30pm  on both days
MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand

In line with the curatorial focus of DIASPORA: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia, a group exhibition of contemporary art from Southeast Asia about the movement of people in the region since the Vietnam War, and its related aspects of migration, displacement, return, and hybridity, and in support of MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum’s dedication to research and education, we are pleased to present a specially curated screening programme on 14 and 15 April. Comprising three works spanning short- and feature-length films, and a documentary, produced by independent filmmakers and artists, this selection addresses concerns of belonging, border crossing, and otherness in the diasporic journey through various visual narratives. 

The screening will start  on both days at 3pm at the Museum’s Theatre   .

About the Selected Works

Charwei Tsai & Tsering Tashi Gyalthang ,Songs of the Migrant Workers of Kaohsiung Harbor， 2018 , HD Video, Sound & Color, 16min04sec
Along the Kaohsiung harbor where Taiwanese fishing vessels are docked, one will find many migrant workers from various countries. Many of them are young men in their twenties and their first time on land after a year or two working in the middle of the ocean with no contact to the outside world. Until their contract is over, the ships are their only homes and this harbor their only ground. We invited them to share songs from their own homes that are meaningful to them during their long journey in foreign land and water. Many expressed the complex feelings of working in Taiwan including the aloneness of living on the sea and the hardship that they have to endure in their work. This is our third video in the series where we collected songs of people around the world whose voices are often unheard.

Fai Wan, 2 or 3 Things about the Bridge, 2015 , color, 30′ 00″ , Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
The last Vietnamese refugee camp in Hong Kong was shut down in 2000, leaving a big group of refugees living on the streets. Some of them chose to live under the flyovers in Shum Shui Po. 2 or 3 things abt the bridge is a documentary short film on the Vietnamese migrant community that congregates  under the Shum Shui Po flyover, in one of the poorest areas of Hong Kong . The filmmaker, a resident of the same area, was approached by the pastor who was providing religious service to the community. The living conditions under the bridge were extremely harsh — the few families still together shared the little they had, while many lived in solitude observing life passing by . The pastor, alarmed by these inhuman conditions, asked  the filmmaker to shoot a short clip to be used to promote issues on homelessness and immigrations to the island . As Fai Wan approached the community , he became involved with the refugees, their lives , and their stories . He researched and, on occasions, lived with community under the bridge for one year before producing this work.

Nontawat Numbenchapol , Boundary , 2013 , HD, Colour, 96 minutes, Thailand/Cambodia/France, Khmer and Thai with English subtitles 
Aod is  a young man from Sisaket, a Northeastern province in Thailand that borders with Cambodia and Preah Vihear Temple. During his military service, Aod  was sent to the South to fight the separatist , and was subsequently sent to Bangkok to dissolve the Red Shirts protesters in 2010. After he was discharged from the army, he went back to his border hometown, where most of the film is shot, Boundary portrays   the life of the people at the Thai / Cambodian border, and their sentiments towards their community and the community on the other side . Boundary is the line we mark down to separate 2 areas, however the individuals living around the border area belong to the  same group of people. They share the same culture, language and tradition, but for political policies or hegemonic control , a boundary was made to separate them.

About the Artists

Tsering Tashi Gyalthang ( B. 1980, India) is a Tibetan filmmaker and artist. In 2003, he moved to Vietnam to work at a film company and soon after started his own film and animation production house Yeti. His short films have been screened at Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner (2011) and at Oberhausen Film Festival (2013). Since 2012, Tsering has been working in collaboration with Taiwanese artist Charwei Tsai and their projects have been exhibited at Espace Louis Vuitton, Singapore (2012), Sharjah Biennale and Dojima River Biennale (both in 2013), The New School in New York and Sydney Biennale (both in 2016).  He is currently based in Vietnam.

Charwei Tsai ( b. 1980,Taipei, Taiwan) multi‐medium practice  is developed based on highly personal yet universal concerns. Geographical, social, and spiritual motifs inform a body of work, which encourages viewer participation outside the confines of complacent contemplation. Preoccupied with the human‐nature relationship, Tsai meditates on the complexities among cultural beliefs, spirituality, and transience. Tsai has had solo exhibitions and projects internationally including: Water Moon, Institute of Contemporary Art, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes, France ( 2017) and Hear Her Singing, commissioned by Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre, London (2017).Tsai currently lives and works in Taipei and Saigon .

Wan King – fai (b. 1986, Hong Kong) is a filmmaker who graduated for the school of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong . His recent works : Filmography (2013), Guilty(2014) and 2 or 3 things about the bridge (2015) have been shown at various national an international film festival indulging the HK Film Festival, and Beijing Chochangdi Festival.  2 or 3 things about the bridge was recently shown at Doodle Art Space in Hong Kong as part of the Independent short film screening progreamm (2017) that revolves around the themes of home, community, and urban dislocation. Wan King-fai works and lives in Hong Kong.

Nontawat Numbenchapol (b. 1983, Bangkok, Thailand) is a film director and scriptwriter. Numbenchapol won international acclaim for his first feature-length documentary Boundary (2013), which presents the points of view of the local people at the Thai-Cambodian border. In the same year, he completed By the River, about the Klity villagers affected by lead-contaminated water. His 2016 docufiction #BKKY tells the story of a teenage girl, Jojo, and inquires into life and identity. The character Jojo is an amalgamation of the thoughts of 100 teenagers in Bangkok, who were interviewed about their loves, dreams, and aspirations. Numbenchapol lives and works in Bangkok, Thailand.