Brother Director--Chen Lung-nan

Chen Lung-nan, born 1975, is a gradu-ate of National Taiwan University's sociology department. He has made two films: Angoo and Looking for Salt, which document respectively fragments of family life and campus life, and also give an insight into the life of urban Amis.

"Our whole family moved away from Fenglin in Hualien County when I was very little!" To earn a living, Chen Lung-nan's family left their old home and came to northern Taiwan. They kept moving around as his parents' work took them to different construction sites, until finally they settled in Tucheng in Taipei County.

"I can't speak or understand our mother tongue." Having taken their son away from his tribal home as a small child, his parents hoped he would integrate into Han Chinese society as quickly as possible. Being unable to understand or speak the Amis language, Chen Lung-nan always felt hesitant about his Amis identity. "I don't even have an Amis name!" This confusion over his cultural and ethnic identity gave Chen a fatalistic sense of pessimism and helplessness.

While at senior high school, he began to take an interest in film. At university he had the opportunity to go to many film festivals and read many books about cinema, and this aroused his motivation to make films himself. "I made Angoo in a rush, to try and get into Tainan National College of Art, so I actually made it in less than three months."

"I used to think that only people who could speak Amis and wore Amis clothes were real Amis." But through the Amis film festival "Reel Amis-Real Pangcah," Chen Lung-nan came to realize that in fact there are many Amis living in the cities, and that today the urban Amis are just as much Amis as those still living in the tribal communities.

"The camera acts like a catalyst-it speeds up the development of emotions!" Chen's initial idea was simply to record images of his family. He never imagined that making this documentary would bring him closer to the other members of his family and improve the relationships between them.

The grand premiere of Angoo took place in the living room of the director's family home in Tucheng, before a select audience of five members of his family. Chen had imagined that after they finished watching the film, there would be a Hollywood-style ending with everyone hugging each other and weeping. "But actually after they watched it none of them said anything. They went off to bed or to do their washing, just like normal." He was somewhat disappointed, but gradually he discovered from little details of life-such as how no matter how late his sister Pei-ling stayed out in the evening, she always came home to sleep, or how his father gave him a watch as a gift-that the atmosphere in the family had changed for the better. While filming, he had had to draw back from his role as a family member in order to make a more objective documentary, yet in fact his first really deep interaction with his family took place in front of the camera.

Associate Professor Chi Lung-jen of Shih Hsin University's Department of Radio, Television and Film says that the fact that the subject matter of Angoo is Chen Lung-nan's own family makes it easier for the director to gain access to his subjects' emotional world. This choice of subject matter is very rare in Taiwanese documentaries. Also, in terms of technique Chen follows his subjects closely and does not embellish or avoid anything, so he is able to record their most genuine side. "This is the most precious quality of the film, and what makes it both moving and entertaining."

Although Angoo, which Chen made as a test piece, did not get him into the graduate program he had hoped for, it unexpectedly helped his family change their attitudes toward his sister's being an unmarried mother, and also made him realize the importance of the family to the individual. "It was not only good to have my sister back, but I also seemed to be saying 'it's good to have you back' to myself," says Chen Lung-nan, his eyes shining.