“I came back to Taiwan after living some years overseas when I was in my third year at elementary school. During my schooldays, my parents were often not at home, so the TV channel HBO became like my family. I think that’s why I came to love films so much later on!” Tsou speaks excitedly, her beautiful eyes adding to the expression in her voice. You won’t hear any talk of loneliness despite the fact that she was often home alone.

Tsou and her team boldly explore new spheres. Her world revolves around film, which is almost like a substitute family for her. (courtesy of Sanwood Films)

Enthusiasm for film

Tsou began her tertiary studies at the National Taiwan University College of Management, but was determined to move into film studies at the National Taiwan University of Arts (NTUA). With a bit of luck on her side, she was able to apply for the NTUA transfer examination just hours before the deadline. She had spent a full month preparing for the exam, and fortunately was rewarded with success: she joined the Department of Motion Picture at NTUA. Although a film enthusiast since childhood, she had no practical experience of acting, so finding herself in front of the camera being expected to act naturally came as quite a challenge.

So Tsou began her trade at the bottom and tried her hand at all or any roles that presented themselves during her four years at university. She gained experience of lighting, for example, as well as taking acting roles in friends’ film projects. Such a broad and comprehensive foundation has enabled her to produce films like Chi­cha­ron and Arnie, the latter of which has shown at international film festivals.

Ating Pelicula Film Workshop helps Filipino students in Taiwan enter the world of filmmaking, a vocation that Tsou will never relinquish. (courtesy of Rina Tsou)

Like an outsider

Born in Taiwan but spending her early childhood in the Philippines, Tsou returned to Taiwan at age ten. Her father was from ­Jiangxi Province in mainland China, and her mother was Filipina, a mixed cultural background that enriched Tsou’s young life but also brought feelings of not belonging, of being an outsider.

Her identity seemingly incomplete and uncertain, spanning different ethnicities, languages and cultures, she searched in vain for a sense of belonging in life. Her feeling of being a stranger in a strange land made the smallest occurrences in life, such as unthinking looks or tactless words from other people, build up over time into a heavy burden.

Doubts about her own identity were embedded at the very root of Tsou’s individual existence. Her diverse life experience is reminiscent of that of Edward W. Said, an intellectual who was born in Palestine, bore an Arabic family name but an English given name, and went to study in the USA after spending most of his childhood in Cairo. Throughout his life he was troubled by issues of identity, even as he strove to define his place in the world through his brilliant writings in literary criticism and cultural research. The burdens and struggles of life may give people many reasons to give up, but like Said, Rina Tsou has chosen to look this unattractively packaged gift horse of life in the mouth, constantly delving within it while also looking outward, thus transforming her own individual issues into reflections and creative work that she gives as a gift to the world.

This tension between feelings of fitting in and of being an outsider is a recurrent theme of Tsou’s film works. It reflects her own story of being brought to Taiwan at age ten. She was unable to comprehend whether she was going abroad or returning home, and facing a totally different education system and lifestyle in Taiwan forced her to grow up quickly.

But while this issue of interethnic relations is a major focus of Tsou’s work, she doesn’t limit herself. Most important is the warmth of the story being told.

No matter what the topic, the flesh-and-blood emotions of the characters are always the main focus. Chi­cha­ron, for example, discusses the theme of identity. While it depicts the loneliness of a little girl, the type of suffering is unrelated to personal identity as a function of race or nationality. Tsou believes that stories based on interpersonal feelings are the most effective way to touch the hearts of an audience.

Tsou encourages youth who share a similar background to her own to create the world they want and find a better way. (photo by Asuka Lee, courtesy of Migrants’ Park)

A new world

Tsou provides encouragement for second-generation migrants who share similar backgrounds: “Society often presents us with great sorrows, but in fact we are sometimes too concerned about our own wounds, and as a result we are unable to realize our own strengths. We need to create the world we desire, and endeavor to work for the better. If you are capable of helping people, then you have a duty to do that, not just because you have the same problem but because you simply want to help. Helping others is a fundamental value as long as we are capable,” says Tsou.

For Rina Tsou, the world is both fantastical and real. The influence of a film can be like shining a light in the darkness. The light may not be strong enough to guide you all the way, but it can indicate the direction of your dreams. The light is your guide.

Rina Tsou (left) and Chen Yu Hsuan, the female lead from Arnie, attend the opening of the International Critics’ Week competition, which ran in parallel with the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. (courtesy of Sanwood Films)

For Rina Tsou, the most burdensome aspects of being a second-generation migrant lie in the trivial incidents of daily life. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)

The 23-minute short film Arnie moved the audience at the Cannes International Film Festival and shone a light on the international stage. But the Filipino fishermen who were the film’s subjects are still enduring a lonely life at sea. (courtesy of Sanwood Films)

The 23-minute short film Arnie moved the audience at the Cannes International Film Festival and shone a light on the international stage. But the Filipino fishermen who were the film’s subjects are still enduring a lonely life at sea. (courtesy of Sanwood Films)

The 23-minute short film Arnie moved the audience at the Cannes International Film Festival and shone a light on the international stage. But the Filipino fishermen who were the film’s subjects are still enduring a lonely life at sea. (courtesy of Sanwood Films)

The 23-minute short film Arnie moved the audience at the Cannes International Film Festival and shone a light on the international stage. But the Filipino fishermen who were the film’s subjects are still enduring a lonely life at sea. (courtesy of Sanwood Films)

The 23-minute short film Arnie moved the audience at the Cannes International Film Festival and shone a light on the international stage. But the Filipino fishermen who were the film’s subjects are still enduring a lonely life at sea. (courtesy of Sanwood Films)