The 23-minute film came to the Taipei International Documentary Festival in December where it screened twice. Very much in the vein of Farhenheit 9/11, where Michael Moore slants a 'documentary' agains the Bush family, and Supersize Me, a half-proved indictment of McDonald's, Hong turns his camera towards Caucasians on the streets of Taipei, talks a lot shit, and uses post-colonial crit-speak to blame random individuals for a larger state of affairs that doesn't agree with him: his own identity conflict as a Taiwanese-American. This doesn't completely undermine all his criticisms, however, as he makes some good points along the way. The question is: How seriously can you take this kind of argument? Discussions will follow the film at the bar.
James Hong's Taipei 101: A Travelogue of Symptoms(Sensitive Version) --I have no idea why Sean grabbed this still, but it's all we've got at the moment. Playing: Friday, March 25, 9pm
Hong's other film (a collaboration with his wife, Chen Yin-ju) is about ants eating a piece of cheese shaped like America: Total Mobilization. This is a very cool idea, and there's more to it, but the segments in which we learn the rules of ant societies is pretty greusome.
Total Mobilization by James Hong and Chen Yin-ju. Playing: Saturday, March 26, 11-ish
