Taiwan Docs

This film is Taiwan's first documentary on music contention, recording the members of the "Labor Exchange Band," returning from the city to Meinung countryside making music. They start caring about peasant and farm village issues after the reservoir debate had declined; their music is also more matured.

Taiwan's farm youths now are in an embarrassing situation: those to the city for better future miss home; those who came back after the bubble economy went down are being urged away by the elders. These farm youths had to go to south-east Asia for "foreign brides" because of their funny social status. In the film, the foreign brides talk about their feelings of coming to Taiwan; and their album recording process in cooperation with the band members.

Through the musicians, the camera goes into the life of the band in their Meinung hometown, showed them offstage, and the recording process in the deserted tobacco building. How can these five totally different top musicians gather along and play the music? How do they interact? All these images are captured in this film.



Source: Taiwan Int'l Ethnographic Film Festival
http://www.tieff.sinica.edu.tw/ch/2003/part3/2003film/english-c7.html