#WOFFFWATCHALONG
Welcome to our COIVD-19 WOFFF watchalong, co-hosted with ReframedFilm on Thursday 11 June 2020. We hope you enjoy all the films and that you’ll join us on Twitter around 9.00PM (BST) for a chat about what you’ve seen.
VIEWING SCHEDULE 11 JUNE
All times are British Summer Time (BST) and are approximate. Full links below the viewing schedule:
7:00PM Intro to the programme from WOFFF
7.15PM WOFFF short film ROAN by Thuy Trang Nguyen
7.30PM Tonight’s feature film THE FAREWELL by Lulu Wang
8.45PM Join the conversation on Twitter about the films. Use the hashtag #WOFFFWatchalong and tag us @WO50FF so we can welcome you into the conversation and so others can find your tweets
9:30 PM Round off the evening with a bonus WOFFF takeaway – WOFFF19 short film MIX by Kotoko Nakamura.
HELLO FROM WOFFF
Hello from the Women Over 50 Film Festival and welcome to our WOFFF Watchalong. This week’s we’re screening three Asian films centred on grandmothers, mothers, daughters and granddaughters, and the history, secrets, loves, lies and stories insides families with ROAN a German-Vietnamese documentary by Thuy Trang Nguyen, THE FAREWELL an Asian-American drama by Lulu Wang and MIX a Japanese animation by Kotoko Nakamura,
ROAN
In ROAN, a WOFFF short documentary, we witness the tender relationship between an elderly Vietnamese grandmother and her granddaughter, the filmmaker Thuy Trang Nguyen, who was born and brought up in Germany. As they spend a day together at grandma’s apartment in Berlin, they share small discoveries of everyday life and larger, existential questions.
This short is available 10 – 12 June. Click on the image below, and when prompted, put in the password: roanatwofff
THE FAREWELL
THE FAREWELL is based on a lie. The matriarch of a Chinese family has been given just a few weeks to live. Everyone in the family knows but her. Billi, her Chinese-born, U.S.-raised granddaughter, reluctantly returns to Changchun with other family members from abroad to say goodbye to her grandmother under the pretence of celebrating a hastily arranged wedding.
With THE FAREWELL, writer/director Lulu Wang has created a heartfelt celebration of both the way we act in families and the way we live, love and lie within them.
This is the first Reframed Film which is not available for free for viewers in the UK. You can buy the film on dvd, buy it on dvd from Hive, or you can rent it on iTunes, GooglePlay or Amazon.
ONLINE CONVERSATION
Join us on Twitter and tell us what you think of the films so far! Use the hashtag #WOFFFWatchalong so you can see what other people are saying, and then, jump in!
FILM TALK: KOTOKO NAKAMURA
Kotoko Nakamura, the director of MIX, joins us from Japan to tell us more about the making of her short animation, MIX.
MIX
In Kotoko Nakamura’s short animation, MIX, the secret at the heart of a happy-looking family is uncovered and we are asked “What’s important in the mix of family? What’s fact? What’s fiction? What’s right? What’s wrong?”
This short film was available to view from 10 to 12 June 2020. It is no longer available to view on this site. You can watch the trailer below.
NEXT WEEK’S WATCHALONG
Our next film, on Thursday 18 June, is a WOFFF selection, FISHING FOR LOVE: HOW TO CATCH A THAI. BRIDE. Click here for a link to the film (free access for people living in the UK) on the BBC iPlayer.
In a small Danish fishing community, more than 900 Thai women are married to local fishermen. 25 years ago Sommai, a former sex worker from north east Thailand, married Niels. This documentary, shot over 10 years, follows four couples. At first, these stories seem straightforward: white men from a wealthy country marrying Asian women looking for a way out of poverty, but a different, far more complex and surprising tale unfolds in the film.
Trailer below (where the film is entitled HEARTBOUND.
WATCHALONG FAQS
What are watchalongs? And why is WOFFF doing them? Click here to learn more with our watchalongs FAQs.Posted on 25/05/2020
