Join us and T.A.P.E. LA for a program of films curated and featuring work by Erica Sheu.

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On this birthday occasion, a two-program screening celebrates maternal energy by recognizing grandmothers as individuals beyond their familial roles. Featuring experimental non-fiction films and documentaries, the program calls for her presence—unveiling her secrets, grief, longing, pride, artistry, and craftsmanship through the memories of grandchildren and their unexpected discoveries.

The program title, 阿嬤ㄟ眠床腳 (Grandma’s Bed Corner), is inspired by a famous Taiwanese Hokkien song by Jiang Hui (江蕙), evoking the place where grandmothers hide the treasures of their deepest care.

Filmmakers in-person: Isaac Kau, Nicole Ucedo, Erica Sheu

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◐ program 1 ◐

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total run time: 32 min + filmmaker conversation

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◅ 拜六下晡 / pài-la̍k ē-poo - Erica SHEU

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2020 | 2 min | color | 16mm | sound | Taiwanese Hokkien, Japanese | USA

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Half-moon on blue sky. A quiet offering connects the unreachable world with the earth. A Japanese childhood song comes in the wind. We promised Grandma that the next time we visit is Saturday afternoon.

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◅ 阿嬤的剪刀 / Grandma's Scissors - Erica SHEU

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2021 | 5.5 min | color and b/w | super 8, digital images | silent with Mandarin, English captions | Taiwan/USA

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Guided by the words of her grandmother, the filmmaker explores the synesthetic properties of memory. Images give way to haptic experience via a range of textures—of sea, celluloid, paper, and pencil traces, of raindrops drifting in and out of focus—linking the arts of textiles and montage into a shared artisanal tradition.

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◅ 如果你還在 / If You Were Here - Isaac KAU

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2023 | 14 min | color | digital | sound | Taiwanese Hokkien, Mandarin, English | Taiwan/USA

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IF YOU WERE HERE is a grandson’s depiction of Ama (grandma) Kuo’s love story with her husband, Akong, and her struggle to support 6 daughters in the United States while Akong worked to support them financially back in Taiwan. As Ama recalls pieces of the past, I visit their original home in Taiwan with old photos in hand to see how the pieces fit. IF YOU WERE HERE is an exploration of who my grandparents once were and what it means to love across seas, generations, and death.

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◅ Una Casa DIsfrazada / A House Disguised - Nicole UCEDO

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2024 | 11.5 min | color | digital | sound | Spanish | Argentina

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During a visit to Buenos Aires (in 2020), the filmmaker suddenly finds herself stuck in an unfamiliar house that belonged to her grandma's 'friend’. To pass the time she investigates the house, its belongings and its memories in hopes of uncovering a rumored secret about her grandma and this “friend”.

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◑ program 2 ◑

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total run time: 62 min

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◅ 此岸：一個家族故事 / This Shore: A Family Story - Tzuan WU

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2020 | 62 min | color and b/w | 16mm, Super8, VHS, Digital Video | sound | Mandarin, English | Taiwan/USA

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Stories had been told repeatedly, their shapes changed by the narrators. Memories revisited each time in different forms like the waves beat on the shore, then vanish. THIS SHORE is an experimental documentary that opens with a family anecdote: When coming across my grandmother’s painting in a random Chinese restaurant in the States, my aunt burst into tears. The film wanders through Cold War constructions, Taiwan–United States relations, generations of diaspora, family romances, and ghost stories. While the personal and collective memories are transformed into another tale of "the Flying Dutchman", doomed to sail the oceans forevermore.

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7:30 PM DOORS

8 PM SCREENING

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Admission is for entry to both programs.

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Presented by T.A.P.E. - a Los Angeles based 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to facilitating support for analog media through free digitizing, education, hands-on training, equipment rentals and volunteer opportunities. Teach, archive, preserve, exhibit.

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