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The Clock

Suffering from dementia, Hsia flees the brand-new apartment where she now lives with her daughter and returns to her old home, only to relive the nightmare that she has long forgotten and buried.

Unable to remember the combination to her apartment’s lock, dementia sufferer Hsia decides to go to her old neighbour, Chuang, in the community she used to live in. Chuang is the only remaining resident fighting against an urban renewal plan that will demolish the community. He has been taking care of Hsia and her daughter since Hsia’s husband died, while Hsia is now trapped in her 30-year-old memories like the clock that has stopped on her old bedroom wall…

Taiwan Catholic Foundation of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia invited four directors, Chiang Hsiu-Chiung, Singing Chen, Ho Wi Ding and Shen Ko-Shang, to each contribute a short film about dementia for a feature film, When Yesterday Comes (2011). Chen juxtaposes an elderly woman’s waning memories with the demolition of old communities to explore a city gradually losing its memory. Taipei’s urban renewal plans levelled many old communities, and relocation stripped the residents of their way of life and community spirit. Against the unrelenting wave of urbanization, how can people live in a place without memories?

Events

Singing Chen: Director’s Q&A

Director Singing Chen will join our Taiwan Post-New Wave Cinema Project audience to answer questions on her featured works and share her perspective

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