This year’s International Feature-Length Competition at Festival Film Dokumenter has a heightened focus on current developments in documentary filmmaking, both in form and function. Considering its constantly evolving nature, documentary filmmaking now is not only about making the unseen be seen, but also often the exploration of the tension in between, and with it the experimentation of how to present and past realities can be reproduced. From Island to Island (Kek-Huat Lau, 2024) certainly showcases this shift, with the film being screened at IFI-LIP on Monday, 4th of November as part of the program.
From Island to Island (2024) delves into Taiwan’s historical memory and the diverse identities within it during World War II, when Taiwan was still part of the Japanese Empire. It centers on cross-generational memory, diving into different dialogues presented through many mediums such as documents and diaries that explore the experiences of among others Taiwanese soldiers, doctors, and diaspora in Southeast Asia during that time. Award-winning director Kek-Huat Lau took time to talk about how the aforementioned progressions in the art of documentary-making are presented in what is a more personal piece for the Malaysia-born, Taiwan-based filmmaker.
“I asked myself, what kind of history do I want my kid to know about? All of this history is unknown to young Taiwanese, even in their history books it doesn’t say. I don’t want them to shy away from this part of history as well,” director Lau stated on his motivation for making this documentary. Director Lau explains how this motivation has moved him and his work. Beyond screening the documentary in full, which sits at almost five hours of screen time, he even went as far as to provide ten to twenty-minute segments of the film for free, intended to be shown by history teachers in Taiwan and Japan. Director Lau also explained his exploratory usage of reenactments in From Island to Island (2024), something which even he himself admitted to not often doing in his previous works; blurring the boundaries of fiction and nonfiction filmmaking. This usage of reenactment as a reinterpretation of past realities, as he explains, is an artistic choice which actually again aims to assert his ambitions of accessibility for all, “I decided that this film should not be limited to just people who go to film festivals, it’s made to be more approachable for all audiences, even for TV watchers as well. The way (to do so) is through re-enactment”.
Presented with a reality where the truth about Taiwan has been often hidden and even rewritten, Director Lau passionately promoted his piece in the face of those who take their history as it’s written in the history books. He expressed how he was particularly motivated after being met with anger from younger Taiwanese people after showing them the originally planned and completed two and a half hour piece. They were defensive after being shown what they saw as a presentation of past depravities of which are not their generations doing. Bewildered, Director Lau decided to add further depth to the documentary, aiming to break that discourse. From Island to Island (2024) ended up taking around up to five years to make, in what was a process that was powered by purpose and ended up with a 290-minute masterpiece. “I want my kid to be someone who can question his teachers when what their teaching is not the truth. I hope all young Taiwanese will be that way,” Director Lau on how history should not be spoon-fed, and in hopes of playing a part in inspiring a new generation of free-thinkers.
More importantly, Director Lau is an adamant advocate for documentary film to be a medium for exploring our emotional tensions when finally exposed to the truth. He made sure to involve many different voices in From Island to Island (2024), as he did not want to set a one-sided, accusatory tone in the documentary. He explains why instead, From Island to Island (2024) actually aims to invoke a sense of friction, a friction we are often faced with when confronting the uncomfortable facts of the past and their perpetrators, “We have to ask ourselves, if we put ourselves in their shoes and we lived in that age, are we brave enough to make better decisions? It’s hard. It’s humanity.”
Diliput oleh Aradi Ghalizha pada 4 November 2024. (Ed. Vanis)
