What I See in the Mirror Stays the Same | 鏡裡的景象從沒變改

Goal 參與目標
Script Refining, Funds, Distribution Partner
完善劇本、籌集資金、發行夥伴

Logline 故事摘要
This film is about the echo between my mother’s life and mine. At 28, my Thai mother left her country to live in HK. Similarly, I’ve been planning to relocate to Thailand since turning 28.
故事關於我和母親的生命歷程的對照。我的泰國人母親28歲時隻身離開故鄉到香港，而我在28歲時開始思考從香港移民到泰國。

Synopsis 故事大綱
This film is about the echo between my mother’s life and mine. In her 20s, my mother left her country, Thailand, in search of better job opportunities in Hong Kong, where she then settled down and raised three daughters. Thirty years later in 2019 when she returned to Thailand for a visit, she found out that her mother with Alzheimer’s can no longer recognise her. While her childhood home had turned into a cockfighting arena. 
Her mother’s passing hit her with a strong desire to return to hometown and build a house of her own. All the while, Hong Kong was at the height of the new migration wave. My sisters and I took the chance of the funeral to apply for our Thai passports during our short stay in the country.
I started to see my identity and family with a new perspective as life led my mother and I to walk the same paths but in the opposite direction. When I look into the old wooden mirror in my grandmother’s room, the image in the mirror stays the same. 

故事關於我和母親的生命歷程的對照。我的母親二十多歲時因尋找工作機會而離開家鄉泰國，在港打工賺錢成家立室渡過半生後，回到故鄉卻發現她的母親患上阿茲海默症而再也記不起她，她成長的地方逐漸變成一個鬥雞場。當她的母親離世時，她思考是否該回鄉生活的問題，打算重新回鄉扎根並籌備建屋。在香港正值離散時代，我和妹妹順勢申請了泰國的護照。當年母親離開泰國來到了香港，而我們卻想著要否離開香港去到泰國。生命流轉，我的身份和家庭在改變之中，而我發現只有外婆家中的木鏡子一直都在，鏡裡的景象從沒變改。

Director’s Statement 導演闡述
The film documents my mother’s struggle to choose between her hometown in Thailand and her family in Hong Kong. At the height of the migration wave, I have also been considering leaving Hong Kong. When I discovered that my mother left Thailand and gave birth to me in Hong Kong when she was my age, the parallel struck me to see my mother in a new light – that she was once a courageous and determined young woman. I began to look into my relationship with her and hers with her mother. We have always been distant, and I am now trying to understand her through the camera lens.
The camera followed my mother to her hometown. With the language barrier, I am left to observe only with my eyes. I saw a woman in her 60s travel a long way to return home, only to discover that her mother no longer recognized her. I saw how she coped with the death of her mother. I saw her planning her retirement in Thailand. I listened to her when she contemplated where she wished to be buried. There I see the similarities between us, the Thai-ness in me.
I might leave the place where I grew up just like she did. Will there be no one to remember that I once lived here? When everything changes, what can we hold on to?

電影以紀錄片方式拍攝我的母親在香港和泰國間搖擺。在香港離散潮之際，我有離開香港的念頭，也對自我身份認同產生了疑問。當發現母親也在我這個年紀離開了泰國來到香港生下了我時，這個不同時空的命運交錯，讓我突然理解到母親當年作為一位年輕女子的決心，也令我開始思考自己與母親，還有母親與外婆的關係。我向來與母親關係疏離，唯有嘗試通過攝影機來認識母親。跟著她回鄉，聽著聽不懂的語言，只用眼睛觀察。一個六十歲的女人回到自己的家卻要面對自己的母親認不到她。看著她面對外婆的死亡，開始退休後回到泰國的計劃，考慮過身後會想身葬何處。而我亦同時發現自己血脈中泰國人的部分。當一切都在變化，我們能掌握甚麼？

Wong Cheuk Man 黃勺嫚
Her documentary work Yeung Yeung with Cows won the Silver Award at the 19th ifva Open Category, and her fiction short Piled Cloud was awarded Best Screenplay in Open Category of the 11th Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival, and the Silver Award at the 23rd ifva Open Category. Her latest work SUSHI was shortlisted at the 17th Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival.

紀錄片作品《牽牛花》獲第19屆 ifva 公開組銀獎；短片作品《積雲》獲第11屆鮮浪潮國際短片節最佳編劇及第23屆 ifva 公開組銀獎。新作《SUSHI》入圍第17屆新浪潮國際短片節。

Jessie Coo Oi-yee 郭靄儀
Born in Hong Kong, Jessie Coo graduated from The University of Hong Kong with a double major of Comparative Literature and Media and Cultural Studies. She curates and coordinates projects encircling diverse art forms. Additionally, she has produced short films and programmes commissioned by Radio Television Hong Kong.

生於香港，畢業於香港大學，雙主修比較文學與媒體及文化研究。遊走不同藝術形式，從事策劃及統籌工作。有幸曾為多部短片及香港電台外判劇集擔任監製。