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Homesick Eyes

Director :
Year :
1997

Country: 

  • Taiwan
Color :
Color
Running Time :
85 min
  • 35mm
  • Urban
  • Rural
  • Society
  • Human Interest

Synopsis

Free market capitalism has not only effected the flow of capital but also the global migration of labor. Laborers cross national borders to "developed" or even "developing" countries and take on low-paying jobs in the service sector. The growing number of international laborers and new immigrants, usually of various nations and ethnicities, has now begun to have certain impact on the host society. For example, in Taiwan, the lure high income might subject them to the employer's exploitation. And policy makers and employers rarely take account of their sense of displacement.

Source: Taiwan Int'l Documentary Festival
http://www.tidf.org.tw/tidfdb/EDefault.aspx

Director Statement

As the world's labor markets open up to allow a freer flow of people into the more affluent developed countries and even into developing countries (such as Taiwan), the growing number of foreign laborers and new immigrants has become a pervading phenomenon with both economic and social consequences. Foreign laborers tear themselves away from their native lands in search of higher incomes, and in doing so become vulnerable to exploitation by their foreign employers. On the other hand, in the service sector for example, laborers coming from diverse cultures bring with them new and different values, and this in itself often creates more problems than a host society can at first predict. So what then is the real cost of this phenomenon?

In the process of collecting background information for this documentary and whilst shooting the footage, we were constantly witnesses to problems and conflict, even tragedy, arising from gaps between cultures and a divergence of values. It was with sadness that we recorded the stories of those who meant to improve the standard of living of their families but instead risked destroying their family unit; of those who meant only to give more love to those dear to them but who instead landed up in an endless struggle with homesickness. I wonder whether this so called 'evolution' really demonstrates the wisdom of our human race after all.

Source: YIDFF
http://www.yidff.jp/97/cat009/97c020-e.html

Festivals & Awards

1997 Berlin International Film Festival
1997 Hawaii International Film Festival - Best Documentary
1997 Golden Horse Awards - Best Documentary
1997 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival - FIPRESCI Prize
1997 Berlin International Film Festival
1997 Hawaii International Film Festival
1997 Golden Horse Awards
1997 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
1998 Taiwna International Documentary Festival - About the Island: Taiwan Documentary Retrospective
1998 Taiwna International Documentary Festival

Team

  • Director
  • Script Writer
  • Sound Designer
  • Producer
  • Script Writer
  • Cinematographer
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