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Even though many people have fought for the rights we now enjoy in the past, we, at times, take them for granted. Apart from issues such as free speech, there are also factors such as having a roof over your head, the ability to work and live wherever you want to and have your rights protected by authorities as well as state institutions. Therefore it is certainly sobering to find directors emphasizing how central and necessary those rights and aspects of our lives are, by focusing on those areas within our world that still live without them. In his short feature “Tea Land”, Taiwanese director Tseng Ying-Ting tells a story of people whose status as illegal workers makes them suspend these rights in order to support themselves and their families. The film tells a story about desperation, envy and also the longing to break out of a cycle that has...

Part of the official selection for Toronto International Film Festival, Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival and Shanghai International Film Festival, Rooth Tang’s first feature length film ‘Sway’ is an intelligent look at how globalisation has made the world so small, yet it can still feel so vast.

“Sway” will be available to iTunes, Google Play, Amazon on 9/1/2018, courtesy of Cheng Cheng Films

The film begins in an airport, which is really the precursor to the inter continental journey we will embark on throughout the 108 minute runtime. We follow three different couples living very different lives on three different continents. Parisian immigrant Arthur’s visa is due to expire so he is trying to convince his career-focused partner Vivian to come back to Asia with him. American Amanda is dealing with the difficulties of marrying into a Japanese family to a widower, who is still carrying his demons with him.

Tiff nominated movie “Sway” (2004) by Thai American filmmaker Rooth Tang, reflects on 3 generations of Asians’ immigrant experience.

Director: Rooth Tang

Cast: Matt Wu / Huang, Lu / Ananda Everingham / Sajee Apiwong / Kazuhiko Nishimura / Kris Wood-Bell

Official Selection

Toronto International Film Festival, Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival

An intelligent and affecting drama that follows lives of three couples living in three worldly cities, Sway reflects on the excitements and struggles of immigrant experience in the age of globalization when individuals have become more mobile but also more rootless than ever. In Paris, Arthur tries to convince his girlfriend to return to Asia together with him before his visa expires. In Bangkok, June ponders her future with husband Palm in America. And in Los Angeles, Amanda tries to fit into the family of a Japanese widower still haunted by their loss.

“…inspired by Wong Kar-Wai and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the globe-jumping picture is clearly intelligent.

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