爸爸的信 | Dear Daughter

故事摘要

Logline

世文是滯留香港的最後一代越南船民。第三十三次入獄時，他決定寫信給遠在瑞典，失散多年的女兒。

Tran The Manh is the last generation of Vietnamese refugee stranded in Hong Kong. He started writing letters to his daughter in Sweden when he was in prison for the 33rd time.

故事大綱

Synopsis

從越南坐船逃難快四十年了，世文多年來滯留在香港的貧民窟，被緊緊綁在毒品、犯罪和露宿街頭的惡性循環裡面。在街頭生活，世文面對的不僅是貧窮，還有無日無之的械鬥、火災與拆遷。他不斷重新建造他的家園，抗衡着毒品的誘惑、爭取著最後一點自由與尊嚴。就在他第三十三次進監獄之時，遠在瑞典的女兒剛好十八歲。他緊抓著重見女兒的希望，即使她從未曾認識這個爸爸。一封封爸爸寫給女兒的獄中信，由紀錄片導演幫忙編輯，記載着世文的口述歷史，也串成了電影的敘事線，揭開一個因戰亂而致三代家庭離散的故事。

More than forty years after he fled from Vietnam, Tran The Manh has been stranded in a shanty town in Hong Kong, stuck in the vicious cycles of drugs, crime, and homelessness. Living on the streets, the challenges he faces each day is not only poverty but also fighting with weapons, fires, and forced evictions. He keeps rebuilding his home and resisting the lure of drugs, trying to uphold his last bit of freedom and dignity. When he went into prison for the thirty-third time, he realised his estranged daughter in Sweden was 18 years old. He latches onto the last hope of reuniting with his daughter, even though she never knows him as her father. In order to incorporate his oral history into the film narrative, the director helps edit his letters from prison that tells a story of three generations separated by war.

導演闡述

Director’s Statement

第一次與世文在橋底相遇，我想起了自己的父親。人有相似，當時我只感到莫明的熟悉。我父親曾經寫過一本書叫《我是爸爸》，記錄了我出生到一歲的時光。所以當我聽說世文與當年只有一歲的女兒失散，我就決定把他的故事拍出來。這是《爸爸的信》的緣起。世文一直希望找到他的女兒，而我也很想幫他達成願望。後來我在Facebook 找到世文的女兒，幫忙翻譯和轉寄他的獄中信件，更感到與失散多年的親人重新聯繫有多困難。我拍攝世文的故事已有八年。我把這段經歷和我對世文的理解拍成電影，希望這電影本身，可以成為世文和我共同寫給他女兒的一封信。有天她看到，也會明白爸爸的處境和心情。

When I first met Tran The Manh under the flyover, I thought he resembled my father and I felt strangely familiar. My father wrote a book called I Am Dad, a memoir of the days between my birthday until I was a year old. When I heard that Manh had lost his one-year-old daughter, I just wanted to help him tell his story through shooting this film Dear Daughter. Manh had wished to reconnect with his daughter, and I wanted to help him fulfil his wish. Later when I found his daughter through Facebook and helped to translate and forward his letters from prison, I realised how difficult it was to reconnect with an estranged family member. I have been shooting Manh’s story for eight years and have made this film based on my experience and understanding of Manh. The film itself has become a letter to his daughter, co-written by Manh and I. It is my hope that one day, his daughter will see this film and understand her father.

總預算

Total Budget

USD $268,886

鄭藹如

Jo CHENG

香港紀錄片工作者，2013年籌辦「橋底誌」短片計劃。2013年至2016年間，她以短片《苦路》、《說再見那天》和《通洲街310號》探索一群越南裔露宿者的故事。現正拍攝一個與女兒失散、長年出入監獄的越南船民的紀錄長片《爸爸的信》。

Jo CHENG is a documentary filmmaker from Hong Kong. From 2013 to 2016, she directed three short films about the lives of homeless Vietnamese refugees. Via Dolorosa (2014) received Special Mention in the Chinese Documentary Festival, and showcased in the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market. 310 Tung Chau Street (2016) was awarded Best Selection of Films by the New Taipei Documentary Awards. She is now working on a feature length documentary, Dear Daughter

楊紫燁

Ruby YANG

楊紫燁是美籍華裔電影工作者，作品曾獲第79屆奧斯卡最佳紀錄短片獎、第83屆奧斯卡最佳紀錄短片獎提名及多個國際獎項。楊紫燁現從事紀錄片拍攝與教學，領導「香港紀錄片拓展計劃」，指導並培育新一代紀錄片工作者。

Ruby YANG is an Academy Award winner for the Documentary Short Subject, The Blood of  Yingzhou District (2006). She is known for directing the Oscar-nominated documentary short The Warriors of Qiugang (2010) and the award-winning feature documentary My Voice, My Life (2014). Yang is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She now heads the Hong Kong Documentary Initiative.

雪美蓮

Mary STEPHEN

雪美蓮為Eric Rohmer導演的御用剪接及配樂師，作品包括李楊的《盲山》（2007）、范立欣的《歸途列車》（2009）、曾翠珊的《河上變村》（2014）以及入圍 2017年金馬影展 TGHFF最佳剪輯的許鞍華電影《明月幾時有》。2016年起任奧斯卡影藝學院會員。

Mary STEPHEN was an editor and co-composer for the director Éric Rohmer. She worked as an editor for numerous Chinese and Hong Kong productions, including LI Yang‘s Blind Mountain (2007), Lixin FAN‘s documentary Last Train Home (2009), Jessey TSANG‘s documentary Flowing Stories (2014), and Ann HUI‘s Our Time Will Come, which was selected for Best Editing at the Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival 2017. Mary has been a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science since 2016.