What a strange and disquieting feeling it is to realize -- after decades away from the country of my birth-- that I am no longer Chinese in China. At the same time, in my adopted country, the United States of America, I am not exactly an American either.
DOUBLE EXPOSURE is a half-hour, poetically inspired documentary, exploring the conflicts and contradictions of the
"cultural statelessness" experienced by a first generation Chinese American immigrant; a series of first-person reflections
and observations examining my passage from young Chinese girl to middle age American woman.
Combining traditional Chinese music, a series of experimentally conceived super-impositions
(using abstract footage and family photographs), footage from recent trips to China, and a first-person voice-over, DOUBLE
EXPOSURE will attempt to evoke and reframe the identity struggles of a Chinese American immigrant. The film will expose
the pushes and pulls of how I have come to understand the differences in customs, social values, and traditions between my
Chinese past and my American present. The film is narrated in a personal essay style: at times anecdotal, seriously
provocative or when appropriate, even humorous. I think of the film as a way of looking at myself in the mirror, and
seeing my reflection in a mask that continually fluctuates between East and West.
DOUBLE EXPOSURE is structured in alternating black and white and color
sections. The black and white sections consist of old family photographs superimposed over images of different water
surfaces. By using water as a visual motif throughout the film, I want to explore its metaphoric potential: as
a symbol of memory, of vastness, of mystery, of the unconscious; as a visual motif capable of expressing a wide range of emotions
and moods - from tranquillity to turbulence.
The color footage consists of present day cinema-vérité imagery, shot
with a digital camcorder on location during several resent visits to Hong Kong and Mainland China.
Traditional Chinese music is used through out.
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