Un/Uttered

Tra-Travel (JP), Figya (JP) & OCAC(TW)
JUU, Osaka, Japan
Feb 2024

The screening series, Un/Uttered, curated by P.M.S., highlights works that navigate the delicate balance between “utterance” and “unuttered,” to approach the essence of individual existence within the complex fabric of contemporary society. 

This duality gives rise to unique narratives, enabling the characters' exploration of multifaceted self-identification and complicated interpersonal connections. Through the expressive medium of music, shifts in language, and the silent eloquence of demonstrations, these selected works transcend various boundaries, spanning the expanses of oceans and continents, the vibrant aspects between urban landscapes and traditional communities, and even blurring the boundaries between the human sphere and the natural world, challenging the complexities of gender distinctions along the way. These boundaries are traversed through states of "utterance" or "unuttered," exposing the individuals' "dwelling places" of the heart and reality in diverse circumstances, intricately weaving the complex challenges of personal resilience in contemporary society.

In the first section, the three directors Kawah Umei, Rngrang Hungul, and Kagaw Omin all originate from distinct indigenous nations in Taiwan. Through conversations with their mothers, the directors interspersed their mother tongues/voices into films, transitioning between multiple languages, including Mandarin, Japanese, Amis, Taroko, and Thai, as well as Yunnanese and even the vocalizations of animals. With their mothers, they imbued themselves in the vocal nuances, semantic subtleties, and syntactical complexities in each language, grasping the essence of things and simultaneously revealing the subtle interaction of gender, ethnicity, and power dynamics. Their existences unfold in the vast ocean of languages, delineating the domain of their self-identities.

In the second section, directors Posak Jodian and Baru Madiljin, through their distinct cinematic styles and orchestrated sounds, depict the characters’ navigation of self-identity in both contemporary and traditional communities. This portrayal is achieved even within a deliberately constructed framework, where the bodies serve as the conduit for survival, interpretation, and expression of the self, ultimately in search of the desired mental and physical abodes, aspirations and realities.

Posak Jodian’s work Misfafahyan Metamorphosis presents the character’s daily life and transgender performances as an integrated entity, transforming the body into a display window that encompasses a landscape ranging from self-survival to self-demonstration. In the work Uqaljai．蛾 by Baru Madiljin, the characters alternate between wearing traditional costumes and revealing their naked self, allowing them to silently illustrate the fluidity and struggles of the performers’ emotions and desires within these contrasting contexts. Whether documented, narrated, or directed, the visual and auditory compositions of the two works disrupt the existing framework for viewing specific film genres, uncovering a new path within the spheres of artistic expression and realism.

Program
Section 1
The Lost Days | ロストデイズ | 我在林森北的那段日子
Kawah Umei 連晨軿 | Taiwan | 2019 | Colour | 30 mins

Yaku o kuyuh , maduk ku kuyuh I'm a Woman, I'm a Hunter | 私は女、私は猟師 | 我是女人，我是獵人
Rngrang Hungul 余欣蘭 | Taiwan | 2022 | Colour | 17 mins

The Mother‘s Voice | 母の声 | 母語
Kagaw Omin | Taiwan | 2023 | Colour | 15 mins

Section 2
​​Ugaljai・蛾
Baru Madijin 巴魯．瑪迪霖| Taiwan | 2016 | Colour | 4 mins

Misafafahiyan Metamorphosis | Misafafahiyan 変身 | 蛻變
Posak Jodian | Taiwan | 2022 | Colour | 16 mins


Partners
Tra-Travel (JP), Figya (JP), JUU (JP) & OCAC (TW)