fishing for roots / 自己人
The Teochew (also known as Chiuchow/ Chaozhou) are a Han chinese dialect group by the Southern Chinese coast that have mostly settled abroad. FISHING FOR ROOTS is a documentary on the extended Tan family (7 sisters and a brother)'s journey back to Swatow in search of their ancestral village. From goose blood to chasing pigs to an ancient familial book spanning the Tang Dynasty to present day, the "root search" starts with the 7 sisters' desire to hunt down a tenuous lead. Spanning Beauty World Plaza and various fish markets in Singapore, to a relative they have never met in Malaysia, the Tans weathered squabbles to a reunion in their ancestral village, and a return 2 years later to celebrate the collective efforts to modernize the family temple.
The film looks at ancestry, migration, history, modernity, the Chinese diaspora and the Teochew cuisine.
Screenshots from the film
