BIRDLAND

Director Huang Min-Chen / 2000 / Taiwan

An ultralight aircraft glides and swoops over Taipei, breathtaking from the sky, in the opening of Huang Min-Chen's follow-up to the terrific Too Young. Once more the director made off with top honours at the Taipei Film Festival in 2000, again deserving accomplishment for his second extraordinary short feature. A boat-load of Illegal immigrants scatter over tidal flats as dawn approaches. The director follows the progress of their lives over subsequent weeks as they come to grips with the terrors and trials of their new home. Immigration officials, accidents and the immediate demands of food and shelter take their toll The illegals' lives intertwine with a number of locals, some of whom seem even less happy than the struggling new arrivals.

See also Too Young (page 28).

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