Five Flavors Festival: Excerpts from motherhood

TypeHall 1 - Cinema

Hour

21.11

|

January 16 |

NEW ASIAN CINEMA

“Virtuous wife and good mother” is a cultural concept that young women in Confucian societies face to this day. It presupposes unconditional dedication to the family, even when modernity demands individuality and independence from them. When, after years of effort, Jing and Wai welcome a coveted baby girl into the world, the joy of the birth of their firstborn quickly collides with the brutal everyday life. Sleepless nights, incessant feeding and falling out handfuls of maternal hair are the other side of the coin, hidden behind the facade of social expectations. The desire to return to work is met with the disapproval of the traditional mother-in-law, and the growing pressure and lack of support from her husband overwhelms the young mother.

-- [Color frame from the movie. A woman with a baby in her arms stands and rests her back against the wall. She looks tired.]

Faced with a crisis, Jing asks himself a difficult question: where is the line between maternal devotion and total loss of self? In an intimate, personal relationship Oliver Chan Siu-kuen empauses the glories and shadows of motherhood. Her film gives voice to experiences that are too often overlooked. Crossing cultural taboos, “Excerpts from Motherhood” shows that sometimes it is this silent struggle to preserve one's identity that is sometimes the hardest. (Lucyna Szczykutowicz)

Language: Cantonese with Polish and English subtitles

EXCERPTS FROM MOTHERHOOD, dir. Oliver Siu Kuen Chan, Hong Kong 2024, 112'

--For whom: youth, adults

Venue: Sala 1 - Kinowa

tickets: 27 zł (n), 25 zł (u), 22 zł (with Kinomana Card)