Grandma's Hairpin
- Portrait
- Family
- Politics
- History
Synopsis
My father is a veteran soldier. In 1949, the Nationalist government retreated from the Mainland to Taiwan. bringing along an army of sixty0thousand people. My father was one of them. They thought they would be gaking back Mainland China and returning home before long. But they did not expect that it would be another forty years before cross-strait exchange and travel is reopened. And so, these veterans become the most awkward group of people to live between the straits of Taiwan and Mainland China. Unable to return home, impossible to wish for one.
A silver hairpin belonging to my grandmother allowed me to walk into my father's world, and to discover the deep reminiscence of these old veterans.
source: Taiwan International Documentary Festival
Director Statement
Recent Chinese history has been plagued with riotous upheavals : countless wars, northern battles, war against the Japanese invaders, and war between the Nationalists and the Communists¡K¡KSoldiers dying on the battlefield, families torn apart, civilians rendered homeless. Burdened for life by a historical mistake, just how many people have to pay?
In all the years of my filmmaking experience, I have not had the uncertainty toward life that this film has made me feel. --- Hsiao Chu-Chen
source: Taiwan International Documentary Festival
Festivals & Awards
2000 Taiwna International Documentary Festival - Taiwan Award
2000 Taiwna International Documentary Festival